A Picture Tells A Thousand Words
by Freakishlylovable
Summary: His parents are in a coma and he has lost his memory. His mothers friend took him in and he finds himself head of heels for her daughter, who doesn't return his feelings. Without memories he will learn the importance of a picture. Troyella! Be nice!
1. I Like Blue

Gabriella Montez and her mother were in the kitchen of their suburban house, Gabriella was complaining while her mother was making breakfast. Gabriella's little six year old cousin, Natalie, was sitting at the kitchen table eating her Lucky Charms while working on a picture in her favorite coloring book. Natalie's brother Nick, who was the same age as Gabriella, was also at the kitchen table listening to Gabriella's conversation with her mother.

"Mom," Gabriella began, trying to take a calm approach to this. "It's not that I don't want to do the right thing and help the guy, but there is seriously no more room in this house."

Gabriella's mother didn't glance up from the bacon that she was making.

"There is plenty of room." her mother replied.

"What about money? You are working your fingers to the bone on your job to support the three of us. Why add in another child?" Gabriella asked.

"Natalie and Nick's parents gave me their inheritance, as well as their wonderful children," Mrs. Montez said tossing a loving look over to Natalie and Nick. Natalie smiled gleefully, Nick just rolled his eyes, he didn't like hearing about his parents' deaths. "We have enough money."

"Well, you are a single mother. Don't you think it will be a little difficult to raise four kids. Three of them being teenagers!" Gabriella said, desperate to not have another addition to the house. Natalie and Nick were family, but this guy, Gabriella wouldn't be able to handle it.

"You and Nick can handle yourselves, and I do think that I have done well so far." Mrs. Montez continued. "Besides, it won't not be forever. The doctors said that his parents are almost out of their comas."

"Gaby," her mother said with a tone the tone that she always uses when she's about to lecture someone. "This is the right thing to do, and I know it won't be easy but it's what needs to be done."

Gabriella didn't think her mother realizes exactly what she had gotten herself into.

"Mom, he got in a car accident and has amnesia. The doctors don't think he'll ever get his memory back. His parents are in comas and you want to take him in!" Gabriella said, relaying all the information that has happened. "I wanna help as much as the next person, but this is where I have to draw the line!"

"Technically, Gabriella, it's not your line to draw." Mrs. Montez replied.

"I don't even know the guy and he doesn't know me, and you expect us to live in the same house?"

"Before his parents moved away when you were four, you two were the best of friends." Mrs. Montez reminded her.

"Well, I don't remember anything about being four. And apparently, neither does he, led alone anything else about his life." Gabriella replied.

"Then you both start of with a blank slate, how wonderful."

"Mom," Gabriella moaned. "I don't know him. I knew Natalie and Nick, so that's different. But this is a stranger. And he'll feel totally uncomfortable living with us too."

"For once I have to agree with Gaby," Nick chimed in. "Besides, if he comes, I gotta share my room with him. Which will suck."

"Kids!" Mrs. Montez snapped. "My best friend and her husband are in a coma, their son has amnesia and they specifically said if anything was to happen to them he goes to us! So, we are taking in Troy Bolton as one of our own, until his parents wake up from their coma. End of story!"

"But I don't wanna nutcase in my house." Nick said.

"He is not a nutcase, he has a brain injury." Mrs. Montez replied icily. "And I expect all of you to welcome him with open arms. Show him around school, introduce him to your friends. Understand?"

"Yes Mam." Gabriella and Nick said solemnly in unison. All the while Natalie had continued drawing in her coloring book.

"Look Aunt Vicki," she said referring to Mrs. Montez. "I drew you a picture."

"Did I ever mention that you're my favorite?" Mrs. Montez said giving Natalie a kiss.

* * *

"I don't know if I wanna do this," Troy Bolton said anxiously as he pulled up to the Montez's house.

"They are practically like family." his social worker Calvin said, before getting out of the car and unloading Troy's suitcases.

"Yes, but I don't remember them. Can't I just stay in the hospital?" Troy asked.

"No," Calvin replied, opening the gate that led to Troy's new home and leading Troy down the way. He had no choice but to follow.

"It'll be weird." Troy said. The truth was, for him everything was weird. Everything was new and foreign. It's not like he forgot how to talk or what a showerhead was, he simply forgot his life and everyone that came along with it. Even his coma ridden parents. Now he was being thrust into a place that he knew nothing about. He would have been much more comfortable in a hospital bed, watching TV.

Calvin rang the doorbell and Mrs. Montez instantly came running up to the door.

"Hello!" she said, opening the door with a giant smile. Then she saw Troy and gasped, she'd seen him a few times when she went to visit Troy's mother, but he looked so handsome and grownup now.

"Troy, look at you!" she said, rushing to give him a hug. Troy tried to jerk away and felt very uncomfortable. Who was this woman?

"Oh, of course," Mrs. Montez said catching on. "You don't know me. How silly of me! I'm Vicki."

"Troy," Troy said. "Which apparently you already know."

For a little while there was an awkward silence, but Calvin broke it.

"Well, I have to be running. I will be checking in when I can." he said. He gave Troy a nod and told him to call him if he needed anything and then was on his way. Vicki waved goodbye and then motioned for Troy to come inside the house.

"You have a nice house." Troy said, as he walked through it. It was very nice. The walls were painted and the furniture was nice. Not fancy or expensive, but comfy. Like a couch where you can just crash down on a watch TV. Troy had an odd feeling that he had been here before. But that feeling was so fleeting, he didn't even know he had it.

Troy was led into the kitchen where Natalie was sitting at her favorite spot in the kitchen table, working on yet another one of her drawings. Mrs. Montez explained how Natalie did not like to be disturbed during her coloring time and how they can make introductions later. She excused herself to find Nick and Gabriella.

That left Troy alone in the kitchen. He wasn't sure what to do, but he was feeling overwhelmed. His legs felt a little weak too. So he decided to sit down at the kitchen table, but as far away from Natalie as he could.

"Hi!" Natalie suddenly said after many moments of silence, startling Troy. "I'm Natalie!"

"I'm Troy," he replied, tapping his fingers on the table nervously. Natalie didn't say anything else.

"Have we met before?" Troy finally asked, wanting to know everything he possibly could about his old life.

"I don't know," Natalie said, examining him. "Let me think."

She walked over to Troy's end of the table and poked him in various places, for reasons Troy could not understand nor wanted to. Then she examined the blue shirt with a basketball on it that Troy was wearing, while looking as though she was concentrating too hard for her little brain to handle.

"I like blue." she finally concluded. Then she sat down back near her coloring book and started drawing again. What was wrong with this girl? Troy asked himself.

"Um...Natalie?" Troy asked, trying to remember the girls name.

"No talking." she said as she stared, transfixed at her paper.

"Okay," Troy said to himself.

"Don't mind her." a voice coming down the hallway said. He was a tall boy with dark hair and dark eyes who looked about Troy's age.

"I'm Nick," he said, introducing himself. "Apparently we're sharing a room."

"Great," Troy mumbled. He didn't know what to say or do.

"Quiet." Natalie repeated.

Nick motioned for Troy to go into another room, and Troy followed Nick's lead. They ended up in the family room with the comfy couch and TV.

"Sorry about my sister. She's a little neurotic. The major downside is she's become annoying perceptive too, it's like I can't get away with anything without her knowing. But she's been acting really odd since our parents died." Nick explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Troy said. "I though Vicki was your mother."

"No, she's our aunt. She took us in after."

"Does she have any kids?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, Gabriella," Nick replied.

"What's she like?"

Gabriella Montez was very beautiful, talented, and intelligent. She got perfect grades, and managed to be a drama club super star at the same time. She could get any guy that she wanted, yet chose to reject them for her friends, family, and studies, because she believed romance in high school was a trivial matter. Gabriella had a way of being mysterious and enchanting to everyone around her and could win over anyone that graced her presence. Basically, for a teenage boy's heart, Gabriella Montez spelled trouble.

"Gabriella!" Vicki said, interrupting Nick and Zack's talk about school to call down Gabriella to meet Troy.

"Coming Mom," Gabriella said, trying to hide to vexation in her voice. She didn't want to be rude, but she didn't exactly want another house guest here.

She made her way down the steps, wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and her long wavy hair flowing at her side. A look that seemed so simple to put together and so simple in general, but looked absolutely stunning on her.

"Hey," she said when she reached the bottom of the steps. "I'm Gaby."

Troy heard her name and saw her beauty and felt his breath get taken away. But he tried his best to play it cool. But he couldn't help but gazing into her gorgeous brown eyes that practically rendered him speechless.

"Um, hi," Troy stumbled out, silently cursing his memory loss. His named seemed to have escaped him. But it wasn't his amnesia that caused him to forget his name, it was Gaby.

"This is Troy." Nick said for Troy.

"Right," Troy answered.

"Hey," Gabriella said awkwardly again.

The group heard a banging noise and then saw Natalie scurry across the room with her picture in hand, on her way up the staircase.

"She does that a lot." Gabriella said. "Mom, can I go to the mall with Sharpay? We have tryouts for the school play tomorrow and Ms. Darbus always expects us to look our best and make a good impression. Can I go?"

"Sure, but be home for dinner." Vicki said.

"Thanks Mom," Gaby said. "Bye Troy."

Troy felt his face go warm when she said his name and he waved goodbye. Was he blushing, he asked himself. No! I hope no one noticed, he told himself.

"Well, I have got to get working on dinner." Vicki said leaving to go to the kitchen.

Troy glanced over, to see Nick, smirking at him.

"I should have warned you not to make direct eye contact with her." he said with a frustrated look. "Another one down."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Troy asked. Nick just gave him a laugh and then showed him where his room will be.

"I'll let you unpack, I've got places to be a girls to see." Nick said, grabbing the jacket on his bed and leaving the room. Troy looked around his new room. It had a closet, Nick barely had any clothes in it. And their was a stained rug on the ground, probably from soda by the looks of it. There were two twin beds taking up most of the space in the room. Troy figured out which one was Nick's because that was the bed covered with various items ranging from clothes to food. Troy's bed was empty except for a little piece of paper that was lying on his pillow.

He walked over to see what it was. The small piece of paper was folded up in an almost obsessive compulsive way. Every end matched perfectly. He slowly opened it and found that it was a drawing. On the piece of paper was a boy, who looked to be about four years old. The little boy was playing basketball. He was wearing a blue shirt, exactly like the one that Troy was wearing and had piercing blue eyes. Just like the eyes that Troy had. Troy knew the drawing was of him. And in the background of the picture there was a little girl with long black wavy hair cheering him on from the sidelines. She looked so familiar.

Even though it was drawn with crayons, the picture looked so real like it had actually happened. Then Troy suddenly blanked out and remembered something.

"Go Troy! Go Troy! Go Troy!" a little girl with a high voice shouted from the sidelines. Troy let the ball be released from his hands, into his little kiddy basketball net that couldn't be taller than a short adult male.

"Troy Bolton wins the finals!" said a little boy who ran a victory lap cheering and whooping.

"My hero!" the little girl said, running up and giving him a hug. The little boy pushed the girl off and said "Ew! Girl germs!"

Troy zapped back to reality. He felt dazed for a minute. Troy realized that he just remembered something about his life. He knew that memory was real, he could just feel it. That was him and Gabriella when they were little kids. But how did he remember that? Troy looked back down at the picture. The little girl was cheering from the sidelines just like in the memory and the boy was taking a perfect shot, just like in the memory. This picture triggered his memory, it's like the key to his life was drawn out for him on this piece of paper written in crayons.

But who gave it to him? And how did they know?

Troy flipped it over and looked at the back, in what looked like child's writing, a message read, 'YES I KNOW YOU. PS- I LIKE BLUE'


	2. Secrets

_Thank you for the reviews! Please keep them coming. By the way, I have made it my Thankgiving Resolution to update more often. (I make resolutions for a new school year, my birthday, New Years (duh!), and everything in between) I just get lazy sometimes even though my mind is always reeling with ideas, so it's my resolution to write them down. So hopefully you'll see more posts. That's all for now! Please review!!!!_

* * *

Troy had been gazing at the picture of him and Gabriella for an hour when he heard a knock at the door.

"Um, come in," Troy replied to the knock instinctively hiding the drawing underneath his pillow.

"All situated?" Mrs. Montez asked, walking into Troy and Nick's bedroom. Troy looked around his side of the room, which was far cleaner than Nick's side and realized that he hadn't even began to put away any of his belongings. Though, he had a small suitcase which really didn't hold much to put away.

"It's a working progress," Troy answered.

"I can see." Vicki Montez said, walking around the room, observing Nick's side of the room while she made a note to self to force him to spend his weekend cleaning it."Well, tomorrow your social worker, Calvin, said while he comes here to check up on you, he'll drop some more of your stuff off."

"Great, I've got some space to fill up." Troy replied.

Another silence befell the two. Troy realized that everyone seemed to be silent around him. He doesn't remember much about human interaction, but he was pretty certain that every person he meets shouldn't not know how to talk to him. But Vicki looked like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure how, and Troy wasn't sure how to get her to open up, or even if he wanted her to.

"Troy," she said, sitting on Nick's bed after carefully removing a two month old pair of socks. "I realize that this must be difficult for you."

Troy just nodded, difficult didn't even begin to describe what he was going through. Impossible was a word that was a little closer to his life, but there was a glimmer of hope, and that was the picture lying underneath his pillow.

"Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" Vicki asked.

"Um," Troy said, stumbling for an answer. He wasn't sure. Vicki understood that he didn't know what he needed.

"Well, Gabriella and Nick go to the school you are set to attend. Even though they go to East High and you are a West Higher, I'm sure you'd be welcomed with open arms." Vicki informed Troy. "The doctor said if you get back into a normal routine, maybe some memories would be triggered. So you should get back into school as soon as you can. But you can take your time, sweetie."

Troy hadn't even thought about the prospect of school yet. He wasn't in his old town, so he wouldn't be in his old school, but maybe he could meet some new people who knew nothing about him and would treat him normally. Besides, Gabriella could be in one of his classes.

"When can I go?" Troy eagerly said.

"It's all set up for tomorrow. We even have some school supplies for you." Vicki said.

"Great,"

"So, you can go to school tomorrow and after school meet with Calvin. I'm sure you'll have loads to tell him."

"Yeah, tons." Troy replied, wondering should he tell Calvin about the picture and his memory, it only made sense, this was a big step for him. But a part of Troy knew that this was very special and he wanted to keep it to himself for a while.

"Well, dinner is in five minutes, so I'll see you then." Vicki said before getting up and leaving. Troy nodded goodbye and then laid down on his bed wondering what to tell Calvin. That's when he heard some paper crumbling and took the picture out of underneath his pillow.

He reviewed the picture, savoring the memory he now had. And he looked at the note on the back again. "I know who you are. PS- I like blue." Troy was sure that it was Natalie that drew him this. It was written by a child and she did say she likes blue. But the strange part is how does she know him? And how did she know to draw this? Was it random? Troy didn't think it was simply coincidence that she drew this particular picture. It wasn't just a drawing that reminded him of his childhood. It was a drawing that was his childhood. It's like she looked inside his mind and found the memories that he was missing and then transferred them onto paper, to look exactly as it played in his mind.

The question is, how?

After a few minutes of pondering this, Troy realized that it was time for dinner and tucked the picture in it's hiding place under his pillow. Also, deciding that he needed to talk to Natalie.

"Troy," Vicki said, as Troy walked into a kitchen that smelled absolutely scrumptious. "Have a seat."

Troy took the seat that was closest to Natalie. Again she was drawing, but she did take the time to quickly look up at Troy, a smile forming across her tiny face, before she buried her head into whatever it was she was drawing again. Troy tried to look over and see what it was, but Natalie had her arm covering it in a fashion that protected her artwork from prying eyes.

"Where's Gaby?" Nick asked, before chugging down a can of soda.

"She was supposed to be back a little while ago. But you know teenage girls and malls, they always get so caught up in them."

"Is Ella trying out for another school play?" Natalie said, finished with her drawing that was stashed away in her pocket, folded into a little square neatly.

"You know that Gaby hates to be called Ella." Nick said. Natalie just glared at him before saying, "You know that your girlfriend is going to breakup with you."

Nick just scoffed.

"Oh, and what makes you say that?" he asked.

"I know things." she whispered, then smiled sweetly. Troy looked over at her and began to wonder if she has some form of perception that everyone else doesn't. Nick did say earlier that she was annoyingly perceptive. He made a mental note to see if Nick's girlfriend breaks up with him.

"To answer your question Natalie," Vicki said after Natalie and Nick's little showdown. "Gabriella is trying out for the school play, so hopefully she'll be in it."

"Can we go and see her if she is?" Natalie eagerly asked.

"Of course." Vicki replied.

"Great," Nick said sarcastically.

"What is great?" Gabriella asked walking in. Vicki gave her a very angry mother look.

"You're late." she said.

"Shoe sales and Sharpay spell late for dinner Mom," Gabriella replied. She took the only seat that was left at the table which happened to be the one that was right next to Troy. As she sat down, she managed an awkward half smile, in which Troy returned much more whole heartedly.

"Did I mention?" Vicki said, later on in the meal. "Troy's going to school with you two tomorrow."

Gabriella dropped her fork, making a loud clanking sound.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Will you two look out for him while he's there? Protect him from those East High Wildcats?" Vicki asked.

"Yeah, sure." Nick said, probably just to get his aunt off his back. Vicki looked over at Gabriella who looked a little jittery. Gabriella didn't say anything.

"You and Troy have many of the same classes, Gaby." Vicki continued. Gabriella seemed to be stifling a shudder when she heard that they are sharing classes. "So, you can show Troy around."

Then she gave Gabriella a look that proved it was an order, not a suggestion. Gabriella got the message.

"Sure," Gabriella said, trying to mask the reluctance in her voice.

"May I be excused?" Gabriella asked after gulping down her food as quickly as possible.

"Me too?" Natalie asked. The second her mother agreed Gabriella bolted from the table as quickly as possible. Natalie gave Troy one last look and then went up into her room, with her folded up drawing in hand.

"Natalie's not gonna come down for the rest of the night now. She'll just draw all night. I told you she is a weirdo." Nick said, earning him a stern look from Vicki.

"She's special." Vicki replied.

Once Gabriella was in the safety of her room she whipped her cell phone out of her purse and hit the speed dial which connected her to her best friend.

"Talk to me." Sharpay Evan's voice said.

"He's coming to school tomorrow!" Gabriella half shouted, half whispered, not wanting to be heard.

"Oh," Sharpay said in a way that made Gabriella's stomach drop. "Have you told him yet?"

"No!" Gabriella snapped. "And I don't ever intend to!"

"Don't you think it's wrong to keep this from him?" Sharpay asked.

"Of course it's wrong, but I'm gonna do it anyway." Gabriella replied, feeling like she was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Wow, Montez. I must be rubbing off on you. You're beginning to sound more and more like me everyday." Sharpay said.

"Stay on task." Gabriella hissed. "What do I do?"

"You gotta tell him." Sharpay said.

"Well, I'm not. So I'll take option B now." Gabriella replied.

"Gabriella, he deserves to know the truth." Sharpay replied.

"Not really!" she answered.

"Really. Gaby, your mom can't tell Troy any of this. She thinks that you two have lost contact years ago. But you've been in contact with him, and you have memories with him. So you might as well share them." Sharpay replied.

"The relationship Troy and I _had _is complicated. I doubt either one of us will like to relive it." Gabriella replied.

"Well then Troy is going to find out from Chad or Zeke or Jason." Sharpay said.

"Not if I can help it," Gabriella replied, before snapping the phone shut and calling up the three boys in question. She was going to keep this a secret!


	3. Memories

**Sorry it took so long to update. But I finally did. This chapter is a little confusing and it's meant to be, so don't worry if you get a little lost. Read, review, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own High School Musical or it's characters, I just own my characters and my story.**

* * *

"Gaby, I don't think that's a good idea." Gabriella's friend Chad Danforth said into the other end of the phone. He was also Troy's friend, but Gabriella intended to keep that detail a secret from Troy. "This is his life that you're keeping from him!"

Chad continued to go on a rant explaining why hiding everything from Troy was horrible. Gabriella was trying to keep her relationship with Troy a secret and had managed to convince Jason and Zeke to do that, but Chad was one of Troy's best friend's. He's the difficult one to convince.

"Danforth!" Gabriella snapped, shutting him up. "Just, stop. Please do this for me. Please."

"We are ruining Troy's life by not telling him." Chad said. Even though Troy and Gabriella had a messy breakup, Gabriella could not possibly hide his entire life and just hope things work out. No matter what happened between them. It was just too cruel and Chad knew that.

"And what if we do tell him and he gets his memory back? It could ruin our life. We were there the night of the accident! Do you know how much trouble we could get in?" Gabriella asked, almost getting into hysterics again. The night of the accident was still fresh in her mind and she shouldn't have been there. She shouldn't have let it happen. She shouldn't have let Troy get hurt. She had the chance to stop this and she didn't.

"But we didn't do anything." Chad explained.

"That's the point!" Gabriella explained. "We were there, we knew the accident was going to happen and we didn't do anything to try and stop it!"

"We called 911!" Chad defended. Gabriella scoffed.

"Yeah, and then we ran." Gabriella said. Then she just sighed. "Chad, how long have we known each other?"

"Years." Chad replied.

"Then can you do this favor for one of your lifelong friends?" Gabriella asked, her voice shaking a little.

"Gaby, why not just tell him?" Chad asked. "I'm sure he'll understand if we explain the whole story. Why can't you tell him?" Gabriella didn't say anything. "Gaby?"

"Because I'm responsible!" Gabriella finally shouted into the phone.

"Gaby, you never knew that Nate would take it that far. None of us did." Chad said. He was still fighting the urge to kill Nate Mitchell for what he did to Troy, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it or about him.

"Well, he did. And I don't want Troy to hate me for letting it happen. Sure we broke up and he doesn't remember me, but I think I still love him."

This time it was Chad's turn to not say anything. He could hear light sobbing on the other side of the phone. Sure Troy's one of his best friend's, but he has no idea about that. Gabriella is oldest friend is here right now asking for help. She needs him now, Troy doesn't know he exists. How can he chose Troy over Gabriella?

"Okay, Gabs." Chad reluctantly said after a long pause. "I won't say a word. For now. We'll eventually have to tell him though." this was met by a moan from Gabriella's side of the phone.

"But for now I'll keep my mouth shut." Chad ended. He hated himself for doing this, but he could tell Gabriella was in agony right now and needed to support of her friends. But Chad was pretty sure Troy was feeling the same. He would have to figure out how to fix this and please both friends. And if there's anything Chad is known for (other than basketball) it's his ability to hatch plans that will save the day. But this is a massive mess to clean up.

"Thank you, so much Chad." Gabriella said in a genuinely heartfelt way.

The two eventually ended their conversation after many thank you's from Gabriella and she went to bed. As she laid down in her bed, all she could think about was Troy. The trouble he is causing, the trouble she caused for him, and even the good times between the both of them. But she knew if she was ever going to get a second of sleep she would have to push him out of her mind.

She closed her eyes and tried to force her mind onto anything else, like her auditions for the school play tomorrow. Sharpay and her will have to bring their A game because there are some new girls from the performing arts school that just transferred to East High. That worked as a distraction for a little while, but as she fell asleep she dreamt of her blue eye boyfriend, or more accurately, exboyfriend.

"_Gaby, are you sure that your mom isn't here?" Troy asked, as Gabriella dragged him through her front door into her house._

"_Positive." Gabriella whispered in his ear before tightly pressing her lips against his. He quickly and eagerly kissed her back. As she closed the front door behind her, still caught up in Troy, he shoved her against the door and kissed her even more passionately. After a little while of this, the two were in desperate need of air._

"_I love you, you know that?" Troy whispered with a smile, as he was pushing some of Gabriella's fallen hair out of her face and behind her ear. This was the first time that he had ever told her that, but he had been wanting to forever. _

"_And why wouldn't you?" Gabriella joked. "I love you too." Troy smiled and kissed her lightly again._

"_You really mean it?" Troy asked._

"_With all my heart." Gabriella replied, Troy smiled even more this time. This lead him to kiss her again. But that kiss was so filled with love Gabriella couldn't take it being so quick, she absolutely needed more._

_As Troy lightly placed kisses on her neck in their makeout session Gabriella finally said what she had been longing for. "Troy, I think I'm finally ready to take this a step further." she said. _

"_Are you sure?" he asked, looking up, his face and lips as close to hers as they can get without actually touching her._

"_Yeah," Gabriella breathed out, before passionately kissing him._

_Gabriella tried to navigate Troy upstairs, but found the need for him too strong and ended up on the couch. As the two kissed each other and touched each other all over, then made love to each other on the living room couch, which thankfully was a comfortable one, Troy whispered to Gabriella "I will always remember this. I will always love you."_

Instantly, Gabriella opened up her eyes, ending her dream. That was the most amazing memory of her entire life and what she thought was Troy's, and he couldn't even remember it, even though he said he would. You would think that it would be a strong enough memory to break through any brain injury, but Gabriella learned when she broke up with Troy that he didn't care as much as she thought he did. So how could she expect anything more from him.

If that wasn't hard enough, she had the live with the guy that she still loved and pretend that she doesn't remember him too. She wished she was the one with amnesia, it would make her life so much easier. She wished that she could write Troy and everything that has happened with him out of her mind. It was too much to have him here and not have him as her own. It was too hard knowing he knew nothing of her. It was too hard knowing that he knew nothing of anything and she was to blame for that.

Since she couldn't hold it back any longer, Gabriella cried for the first time since that night that Troy got into the car accident.

Troy woke up to the sound of his door closing. He figured it was just Vicki checking on him since it was his first night at the house, so he let the thought pass and tried to go back to sleep. But then he heard some light footsteps, almost like scurrying, run across his room. It couldn't have been Vicki, the footsteps sound like a child's. Next he saw a little shadow come closer and closer.

"Natalie?" Troy asked, rubbing his eyes while trying to adjust to the light, and sitting up in his bed.

"Quiet." Natalie said, holding a finger up to her lips.

"Okay," Troy said quietly, looking over to check and see if his roommate was awake. But Nick was sleeping soundly and snoring loudly. Before Troy could say or do anything else Natalie shoved a piece of paper into Troy's hands. He tried to say something, but the little girl shushed him again and ran out of the room as fast as she came in.

The paper crinkled as Troy unfolded the perfectly folded parchment, as he did this Nick seemed to stir a little but didn't wake up. Troy struggled to see what he was sure was a picture Natalie drew for, but it was too dark. So he reached over and turned on the light. Nick still slept, even with the light.

Drawn in crayon was a picture of a boy on a basketball court trying to shoot a basket, who looked just like Troy except a little younger, he was seventeen now, but in the picture he looked more like thirteen, maybe fourteen. As he examined it closer he saw a man standing in the background with a whistle in his mouth. Then Troy felt a memory coming back to him again.

"_Troy!" the man shouted after blowing the whistle, making it screech as high pitched as he possible could.. "You missed." he said, stating the obvious. Troy just threw the ball down onto the ground angrily, once it hit the pavement it bounced multiple_ _times until it ended up in the pool. The man stared Troy down after this._

"_I know what you're gonna say and I am not getting that." Troy said distancing himself from the pool. _

"_You most definitely are. And then_ _you are going to practice for another forty-five minutes." the man ordered. _

"_Dad! That's unfair!" Troy shouted. "I'm heading out to meet up with..."_

"_No." Troy's dad sternly said. "You know that I don't approve of you dating her."_

"_Well, that's not your choice to make, it's mine." Troy replied. _

"_Well, I'm your father and you are my son so I am making it my choice." Mr. Bolton said. "Besides, she's a nice girl. There is no need for you to be corrupting her. Now get to work, that's an order." Mr. Bolton said before walking off and leaving Troy to fish the ball out of the pool himself._

Troy zapped back to the real world from the sounds of Nick's snores, slowly taking in everything that he just remembered. That's his father? He's...mean. Troy had visited his father in the hospital, and he seemed to be a good looking man, even in a coma, but that is all he knew about him. He never envisioned him to be like that. It was a letdown. A big one.

After letting the memory of his father soak in Troy wondered if Natalie wrote him a quick note on the back of the drawing like last time. As he turned it over, it turned out that written in crayon was another note from Natalie. It said, "GO TO ELLA'S ROOM. NOW."

At first Troy was confused at who Ella was, but then remembered that Natalie called Gabriella, Ella. He wasn't sure why Natalie wanted him there, but she's been right about things so far (how she was, Troy had no idea) so he should trust her on this.

He slowly left his room, stumbling a little because his legs wanted sleep, but his mind was racing. What did Natalie have to show him now? He hoped that whatever it was, it will be better than the last memory.

As he enclosed in on Gabriella's room, he heard crying come from the other side. Next to the door was standing Natalie, with her finger against her lips signifying silence. Then she pointed towards the room, urging him to go in and before ran off. Troy wanted to run too. He couldn't deal with crying girls, especially one's he didn't know. But Natalie wanted him to go in there so he has to.

The door to Gabriella's room was open enough to see in, and Troy could see Gabriella lying on her bed, tears streaming down her face with puffy eyes. He saw her struggling to take a breath in the middle of tears.

Even looking like a mess, she somehow managed to look like a goddess and Troy couldn't help but stare. It made him so sad to see her like this and he didn't care that he had no idea who she is or what she was crying about, he just felt the sudden urge to go in and help. He felt as though he needed to.

He gently knocked and Gabriella looked up, her eyes bloodshot red. The sight of Troy didn't make Gabriella feel any better, it only made her wanna cry even more, but she couldn't let Troy know that.

"Hey," he said, in a state of complete awkwardness.

"Hi," Gabriella whispered with a cracked voice from all the crying.

"I heard...I, um...are you..." Troy stumbled out, the nerves taking the best of him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Gabriella said, quickly wiping away her tears. "I'm totally and completely fine."

"Sorry, it's just, you seemed upset." Troy said, still lingering near the doorway, wanting to come in, but knowing that Gabriella probably wouldn't grant him access. But he got a quick look around the room. It was a typical girl's room, tons of pink. It also had posters of Broadway musicals all over the walls. And, was that a picture of... him? It was on Gabriella's bed, but he couldn't tell if it was him because he was so far away and Gabriella quickly covered it. He was probably just imagining things. It couldn't be a picture of him, he hadn't seen her since he was four. It was just a guy who looked like him at quick glance, that's the only logical explanation.

"Thanks for checking on me." Gabriella said, trying to get Troy's attention back on her and not on the picture that she quickly and obviously hid underneath her arm. "I was just being a girl." she replied.

"Everything alright?" Troy asked, now pushing the thought of the picture out of his mind, it couldn't be him. Gabriella would never have a picture of him even if they knew each other now, he would never be good enough for her to keep a picture of him.

"It will be." Gabriella answered, needing to confess what she felt to Troy but not wanting him to know it was him she was talking about. And that's just what she did. "I just have to get used to the fact that my boyfriend and I broke up. And because of me he's never coming back."

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**In case someone was confused Gabriella and Chad were talking about the accident that caused amnesia. I'm not gonna explain what happened now, but I will get to it more later on. It's supposed to give you a little info, but not enough to put two and two together. Other than that, this was pretty much a filler chapter. But I will be focusing on just this story now and not all my other's for a little bit because I have a lot of ideas that I wanna get down for this. Anyway, please review! Hope you liked.**


	4. Forgive Me

**Sorry that this is short and that it took this long to update, I've been busy. Anyway, this is another chapter meant to be confusing. I'm focusing a little more on the mystery of what happened to Troy at the moment, but will be getting to some other stuff later. This chapter picks up after the last line Gabriella said in the last chapter. Please read and review!**

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"Sorry to hear about your boyfriend." Troy said, still lingering by the doorway to Gabriella's room, even though she looked highly uncomfortable and obviously wanted Troy out as soon as possible. But something about Gabriella and this room drew him into it. It was almost as though he had been in here before.

The scent coming from her doorway was all too familiar. Everything, the bed, the furniture, the floor, the knick knacks all over the room, especially the bed. Gabriella has recently redecorated her room, easing her worries of being caught lying to Troy just the slightest bit. But regardless of the new colored walls and bedspread, Troy still knew this place like it was home.

Then there was the balcony. He could envision himself climbing up the tree next to her balcony to sneak in and see her in the middle of the night, but Troy convinced himself to take control of his imagination. But was he really imagining it?

"We better get some sleep." Gabriella said, jumping out of her bed and walking over to the doorway, trying to obstruct Troy's view of the bedroom that he had been in many, many times. Over the years she had learned that all she had to do was stand two feet away from a guy, give a hair flip, and a sweet voice, and their attention would instantly dart to her. And like she predicted, Troy's eyes and attention instantly left the room and went straight to Gabriella.

"Yeah, school tomorrow." Troy said nervously while trying to suppress a yawn. It really was late. But the second the word school left his mouth, he was buried in worries and fears about what would happen and what problems would present themselves. The anxiety must have shown in his face or maybe Gabriella knew him too well, but either way she knew something was bothering him.

"Nerve racking, huh?" Gabriella asked, smiling sweetly as she lead Troy farther away from her doorway and into the hallway. This change of venue went completely unnoticed by Troy who had his eyes glued to Gabriella.

"You have no idea." Troy said, running his hands through his sandy blonde hair, looking obviously troubled. Gabriella just frowned, she wanted to cry again. Why was she doing this to him? She should just tell him. It was the right thing to do. The look in his eyes proved this was too horrible.

"Troy," she finally said, looking deeply into his blue eyes for the first time that wasn't in her dreams that in a very long time. "About the accident..." Gabriella found her breathing worsening and panic suddenly overcame her. There was no way she could do this. No way. But she already started, why stop now?

"I just wanted to thank you." Troy said, cutting her off.

"What?" Gabriella asked, obviously shocked. She was about to confess to knowing about his past and playing a partial part in his losing his past and he's thanking her. Why is he torturing her?

"I know it must not be easy having me here in my...condition. But thanks for putting up with it." Troy said, smiling. Gabriella bit her tongue. He was being so sweet, causing her to go weak in the knees. What was he doing to her?

"How do you do it?" Gabriella asked finally. She had no clue why she asked that, but a part of her needed to know the damage that she had inflicted.

"It's a blank slate. I don't know what my life was like before, but here's a chance to makeup for everything I screwed up. It's a good thing if you think about it." Troy said, lying a little but desperately hoping that he will one day believe what he just said.

"Yeah," Gabriella said, officially losing her nerve. "We all could use one of those. We better get to bed. Big day tomorrow. See you in the morning." Gabriella said, as she walked away her arm grazed his sending chills up his spine.

"Wait," Troy said, stopping Gabriella and making her turn around. "I like what you did with your room." he said, grinning before walking off. He didn't know why he said that, it was like another force made him say it. Gabriella gave a weak smile and wondered, was that a compliment or a sign that he remembered? Neither of the two knew which it was, but both knew that the next day at school would bring bigger issues than room color.

Troy slowly inched his way back to his bedroom, careful not to walk too fast or too loud in fear that he might awake some of the house's other residents. The last conversation with Gabriella was so strange. She was just so unbelievable she made him not know what was up or down. Maybe it was because she is the first girl he can actually remember having human contact with, but maybe it was something more. Something deeper. But the thought of he and Gabriella as anything more than housemates was to ridiculous to put anymore thought into. It would make things too complicated in the house, and besides it would never happen. How could Troy Bolton ever land a girl like her. Yet, there was something about her. Everything about her, from her voice to her looks to everything she's around, it was all too comfortably familiar. He liked that, comfort. It was something that she gave him which he was lacking.

"So?" a small voice said, from in front of Troy's bedroom door. Natalie was standing there, anxiously awaiting his return.

"You're actually talking to me now?" Troy said, this was one of the first words that Natalie had ever uttered to him.

"So?" Natalie repeated, vexation growing in her voice. Troy just squinted at her through the darkness with a confused look on his face. What was he missing?

"So what?" he asked. Natalie let out a giant sigh and then started tiptoeing back to her room without as much as an explanation.

"Did I do something wrong?" Troy asked, as Natalie got farther and farther away. Natalie turned around and shook her head, and muttered something along the lines of "boys." "Do I have to paint a picture for you?" she finally said.

"Yeah, it would help." Troy responded, then that set something off in his head. "Wait, I've been meaning to ask you about those pictures you've been leaving me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." she said, before hurrying away and out of sight.

"Thanks for the help." Troy said to himself, then he quietly entered his room, still finding his roommate asleep. He slowly got back into bed while trying to collect all the thoughts about Natalie, Gabriella, school, his parents, his lost life, and everything else roaming around in his head. Finally he drifted off to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, he found Nick already out of bed, leaving his bed sheets and pillows scattered all over the floor, among other things. Troy bent down to clean a bit of the clutter and found a little basketball. He remembered staring at the walls last night and seeing a small basketball hoop attached to the door. Since Natalie's picture was about basketball he figured why not give it a try? He might be good at it.

The little toy ball soared through the air as Troy released it from him fingers, but ultimately missed. Troy let out a sigh. It was worth a shot, he thought to himself.

"That throw was pathetic." came a voice from the other side of the room. Troy jerked his head over to find the man from the drawing, his father, sitting on Nick's bed. Troy just stood with his mouth gaping. His father was in a coma, was he dreaming? He must be dreaming.

"Now you can't talk?" the man, asked getting up from the bed and picking up the basketball for himself. It went into the net with ease. "How have you been holding up without me, son?" There was still no response from Troy.

"Not talking to me, eh? Okay, I understand why." he said walking across the room, over to Troy. "Did you ever consider that the day you forgive me is the day I'll wake up?"

"F-f-orgive you?" Troy finally studdered out. "Forgive you for what?"

"You don't remember?" the man asked.

"No," Troy said, slowly shaking his head. His father just chuckled.

"Nothing at all?" he asked. Troy nodded. "You're seeing and dreaming the truth, so there must be some memory in that brain of yours." Troy still didn't say anything.

"I wanna wake up from my coma. You're mother too. I can tell." Mr. Bolton said.

"How?" Troy asked.

"I just can." he said ominously, bouncing the ball up and down in his pale hand. "Forgive me and this will all be over."

"Forgive you for what?" Troy asked, more confused than ever.

"Right, you can't remember." Mr. Bolton said. "Maybe you should ask the girl."

"Natalie?" Troy asked. Mr. Bolton chuckled again, breaking into a wide grin for no reason that Troy could understand.

"Same old Troy," was the last thing Troy heard from his father before he suddenly woke up for real this time.

"Forgive him for what?" he silently whispered to himself.


	5. Crisis Averted?

**Disclaimer- I don't own High School Musical or the characters, I just own this story.**

**Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been busy and I've been planning out this story a little. I'm going to have all the clues start to unravel so you might be able to solve the mystery. Let me know if you do! In the mean time, please read and review.**

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"Forgive him." Troy muttered to himself, thinking back on his dream. "Forgive him for what?"

"Now you're talking to yourself." Gabriella commented, standing at the foot of his doorway. "Forgive who?"

Gabriella had no clue who Troy wanted to forgive but she prayed it wasn't her. That would mean he knew. But she would be forgiven, wouldn't she? Wait, she said to herself, he said him. It was a him. Who? A thought popped into Gabriella's head, but she quickly brushed it away. It was just too difficult of a thought to concentrate on.

"Um, I don't know." Troy answered. Gabriella had a confused look on her face. "It was a dream. So, it's pointless to dwell on it, right?"

"Well," Gabriella said, walking into the room without permission and plopping herself onto her cousin's bed, she was desperate for knowledge almost as much as Troy was. "What was the dream about?"

Troy considered this for a moment, he barely knew Gabriella, yet he trusted her more than anyone in the world. And he needed a confident, so why not her? But should he really make himself seem more insane? And should he drag Natalie into this? It was all too confusing. Gabriella seemed to sense the confusion, because she switched from her cousin's bed to Troy's, sitting next to him and looking him in the eyes.

"Change is hard." she said, not sure if she was talking to him or herself. Troy grinned and mumbled, "Tell me about it."

"But...You get through it. Somehow. Someway. You do it. You just sometimes need a little help." Gabriella said, placing a warm smile on her face while Troy gazed into her eyes. Sure she wanted to be there for Troy, that was completely true, but she was being a little sinister into tricking him into giving her information. But it would be the best thing for the both of them, right? Troy would have someone to talk to, and she would be protected.

"I had a dream about my father." Troy said, answering the question Gabriella asked earlier. She nodded, trying to hide her anxiety. This was worse than she thought, his father! Not good. All the pieces of the puzzle were put together already in her head because they already played out, but if they play out before Troy...it would not be good.

"What happened in this dream?" she asked, nervously and unknowingly picking at the dead skin around her nail.

"We talked." Troy said, almost laughing at himself for the absurdity of talking to his coma ridden father and actually taking what he said seriously.

"About?" Gabriella asked, on the edge of her feet.

"Forgiveness." Troy quietly said. "Forgiving him."

"For what?" Gabriella quickly asked, feeling her stomach drop. He knew. He had to know.

"I don't know." Troy said, letting out a sigh of frustration as Gabriella let out a sigh of relief.

"Do you remember anything about my dad?" Troy asked. Gabriella froze, yeah, she remembered a lot. But there was no way on earth she was ever going to tell Troy that.

"I was four. I remember his face from pictures, and some stories from my mom," she said cringing. "But that's about it."

"Oh," Troy said, sounding a little let down.

"Come on," Gabriella said, patting Troy's hand. "I came to guide the little lost boy to school." she joked pulling Troy off of his bed.

"Oh, very funny. Make fun of the ill." Troy said, grabbing his backpack. The two walked to school in unison having a light conversation and laughing, but both of them having Mr. Bolton dwelling in the back of their minds.

As they reached the end of their walk the school came into vision. It was like nothing Troy had ever seen before, or at least could ever remember seeing. In actuality it was quite ordinary. An average school, with average students. Sure you had an odd sight here and there, but that's the way it is everywhere. But to Troy, every sight, every person was extraordinary. While most people saw this crowd as filled up space, Troy saw it as a group of people, each with memories and experiences, joy and pains. He was aching to have his back, he was even aching to have their memories. Anything but emptiness.

"You okay?" Gabriella said, grabbing his arm, pulling him away from a gaggling group of girls filing through before he got trampled. It was like Troy was in his own little world.

"Oh, yeah, yeah fine." Troy said, still gazing around, his blue eyes filled with sights, awinspiring sights. "It's just...wow."

"You're acting like a freshman, you know that?" Gabriella commented. A new airiness and lightness draping over the two. In the beginning Gabriella was surrounded with fear of Troy, but being around him and seeing him in the light she saw him before, actually a better light then she ever saw him, it made her want to talk to him again. Want to hang out with him. Want more than an unknowing relationship. But she screwed up by not telling him, let the boy live his life, she told herself.

"Where's your roommate?" Gabriella asked, referring to Nick. Troy shrugged.

"Don't know, he left before I woke up." Troy said, the dream quickly grazing through his mind but instantly leaving when another person walked by him. Gabriella couldn't help but laugh, he was like a little kid who could see for the first time, it was very cute.

"Are you laughing at me?" Troy asked, hearing her giggle. It was so familiar.

"Maybe..." she said, smiling. "Just don't act like this when my friend's come around. If you wanna hang around me, you've gotta be cool."

"You're friends, huh?" Troy asked.

"Don't flatter yourself," Gabriella said. "Mother's orders."

"I'll have to thank her." Troy added in a light bantering tone. He and Gabriella were really beginning to click, it's like they've known each other forever, never parting.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Chad said tossing the basketball to Gabriella. As the Afro-haired boy came into sight, Troy got a familiar feeling again, but shook it off. He was smiling as Gabriella fumbled to catch the ball. Even though she grew up watching her friends play this sport, she could never get the hang of it. Homework, theater, even cheerleading with Sharpay were more of her thing.

Chad laughed at her basketball incompetence, a smile broad across his face, but it slowly faded as he saw Troy. Gabriella and Troy both noticed the famous Danforth grin disappear and Gabriella gave Chad a piercing look.

"Chad," she said keeping a calm tone. "This is my friend Troy."

"Hey Man," Chad said, it felt weird being introduced to one of his best friend's all over again.

"Hey," Troy said. Chad was giving off tension from all over, that's why Gabriella was so thankful when Sharpay came running over in her pink high heeled shoes.

"Oh my God!" she shouted in her absolutely girly scream. "Is this Troy?" she asked, even though she knew fully well who he was. Gabriella nodded. Leave it to Sharpay to save the day.

"Oh my God!" she repeated. "It's so good to meet you!" she said giving him a giant hug that almost made him tumble over.

Once he regained himself Sharpay look him directly in the eye and slowly and loudly said, "My name is Sharpay!" as though he was hard of hearing. Troy was tempted to cover his ears from the loud noise.

"Overkill." Gabriella whispered to Sharpay, so no one else could hear.

"Nice to meet you." he managed to say in a very quiet voice. He really wanted to throw a look at Gabriella for introducing him to such friends on his first day back in the real world. How about a nice, normal person? Not a guy with an Afro who is colder than ice and a girl who seems to have way too much coffee and sugar in her diet.

"So, um, can we get to class now. I don't want to be late." Gabriella said, as she eyed a tall figure with short brown hair stomping over this way. This was definitely going to be a bump in the road. Chad caught on too.

"Yeah, I do not need another detention. Let's go, you can meet the rest of the guys." he said, motioning for Troy to move. He should have done something much more than a quick motion. Because before Troy, Gabriella, or Chad knew it, Troy was lying flat on the floor with blood oozing from his face.

"I told you not to mess with me!" shouted the cold voice of the figure who just punched him to the ground. Crisis, most definitely not averted.


	6. Her

**Hey all, sorry it's been a while. I am giving a MAJOR clue in this chapter. So...read and figure it out. I wrote this up quick so sorry if it's not my best. I hope you enjoy...and review!**

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Troy was at peace, completely calm. Every stress in the world seemed to have stopped and he was in his own little dream world. Except that constant beeping sound he heard, that was annoying him. At first that was all he could hear, but other sounds came to him, just no sight.

"How could you let this happen?" said a quiet, yet harsh voice that Troy couldn't quite place. He heard a muffling sound from what sounded like another person. Was that a cry?

"I thought you would take care of him." the voice said again, yet again another muffled sound that Troy could not decipher.

For what felt like an eternity his sight remained lost, but his brain flickered in and out between that beeping sounds, the voices, and then absolute silence.

"It's not fun is it sweetie?" a voice asked. Troy could suddenly see again, but he knew his eyes weren't open. Standing next to him, sitting on a bed, the bed Troy was in, with her hands placed on top of Troy's hands, was a woman.

"Mom?" he asked, confused. He recognized her from the visits he made when in the hospital. Was he there now? She looked so different, before she looked bruised and pale, now she had a form of glow to her.

"I would hope you'd remember your own mother." she said with a smile and a squeeze of his hand.

"Is Dad here with you?" Troy asked. His mother's figure instantly stiffened and some paleness flooded back into her face. "No." she said, almost in a whisper. A pained whisper.

"Do you want him here?" Troy asked. If Troy had to forgive his father, maybe his mother did too. Maybe she can answer his questions. Like, why is she here? And, where am I?

"He came and visited me." she said, her eyes wandering off to the sights around the room.

"How?" Troy asked.

"The same way I'm visiting you now." she said, as if it were obvious. "Through a dream."

"You mean you aren't really here?"

"I'm always here, no matter what." she said, clutching her son's hand tighter. Troy welcomed his mother's love again, even if it was in dream form.

"Do you need to forgive him?" Troy asked.

"Troy, I am going to give you some motherly advice." she said, looking him stern in the eye. "Yes, much forgiveness needs to be done, but many people are involved in that process. If you knew all the facts..."

"I want to know." he interjected.

"If you knew, I can't say you would look at anyone around you the same." she continued. "I am your mother and here to guide you and do what's best. But ignorance is bliss. I was perfectly happy until I learned of...her."

"Who's her?" Troy asked. His mother looked away, reexamining the room.

"I want to know!" he almost shouted at his mother's silence. His father had a mentioned a her, who is she?

"She is simply a small piece and despite everything she's done, I know Vicki loves you." his mother said, cringing at her own words. Troy's blood ran cold. Vicki? Mrs. Montez? Gabriella's mom?

"What does she have to do with this?" he asked, this was hitting too close to home.

"I've said too much already. I can tell this will burden you and there are too many Vicki's around you for you to handle at the moment..."

"What?" Troy asked, confused.

"Just forgive in forget. Or in your case forget and forgive." his mother said.

"Who? Mom, who? Who are these people? I need to know!" Troy said, pushing himself off the bed he was lying on.

"Troy, I must go now. We are not alone." she whispered, before her image was gone.

"Mom! Come back! Who is it?" he yelled. He kept yelling, who is it? Who is it?

"It's Gaby, it's Gaby." a voice repeated to him. Gabriella, it was her, she betrayed him? Who said that? Troy was confused he was hearing people talk and did not know who it was or what was going on.

"Who is it?" Troy asked again.

"Troy," a calm voice said, touching his hand. But he couldn't see who was doing this. "It's Gaby."

Like heavy weights Troy fought to open his eyes, maybe if he could open his eyes a little wider he would know who was saying this to him.

"Troy, it's Gaby," said the voice again, this voice sounded shaky and teary. "Please wake up." At that Troy's eyes shot open. Before he knew it there was a giant squeal and a petite brunette was giving him a giant hug, and of course that petite girl was Gabriella.

"Hey," was his only response. He finally gained his eyesight back and looked around, he was in the hospital.

"Are you okay?" she asked, already propped up on his bed next to him, making herself at home.

"Um, yeah." Troy said rubbing his aching head with his hand, he realized there was an IV coming out of it. "Why am I in the hospital?"

"You were hit. Knocked out cold, and with the accident we couldn't take any risks. Please tell me you haven't lost the your memory all over again." Gabriella said, glassy eyed but not crying, but looking terrified. "It's Gaby, you're friend." she repeated, trying to remind him who she was so he wouldn't be afraid of the strange girl in the room if he had forgotten.

"I know," Troy said with a chuckle. "I remember that much."

Gabriella let out a smile and sigh of relief, Troy noticed that her cheeks were stained with tears but decided not to mention this detail. He and Gabriella were sitting in silence, she just seemed to be relieved he was okay and didn't need anything else other than just to know he was awake. Troy took this time of peace to think about his mom and what she said. What does Vicki have to do with all of this? And someone was saying "It's Gaby", is Gabriella involved?

"You know you talk in your sleep?" Gabriella said, breaking the silence. "You kept yelling who is it? I had to say my name a million time to get you to snap out of it." Troy let out a sigh of immense relief, Gabriella was just trying to wake him up, it was her talking, she had nothing to do with this.

But he had his list of bad guys. His dad, and surprisingly Vicki. Whoever punched him, he'd have to figure that one out soon too. But who else could be in on this, if sweet welcoming Vicki could have done something this wrong, even though what was done was still unknown to him. But still, if Vicki of all people was involved, who else is? Who could he trust?


	7. She Thinks She Knows Everything

**Hey sorry for the wait. And I wanted to just thank you all for the great response I have been getting to this story. I love this story and it overjoys me that everyone is enjoying it this much! So thank you for all the encouragement and reviews. This chapter might be a little confusing, but it's yet another piece to the puzzle. I seriously hope someone figures it out soon, since I'm starting to wonder if my idea is a little too crazy. LOL. Please read, review, and most of all ENJOY!!**

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"Gaby?" Troy asked, turning his head towards Gabriella. He was still in the hospital and while waiting for some test results to come back, Gabriella was assigned to watch him. She took the seat next to his bed and dove headfirst into some complicated homework. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah," Gabriella said, looking up from her work and setting her pencil aside. "What's up?"

"So I know I ended up here because I was punched by..." Troy was gripping for the guys name who knocked him out. Gabriella had told him, Chad had told him, the police and many others had told him, but for some reason that guys name kept escaping his mind.

"Nate." Gabriella answered for him, her face turning paler and paler. Troy had noticed that when he asked questions Gabriella's face always changed. Usually she wore a happy smile, and even when there wasn't a smile there was somewhat of a grin constantly on her face. But whenever Troy asked a question, her half smile faded and her skin lost it's glow. He would have stopped if he wasn't so determined to know the answers he so desperately needed.

"Yeah, Nate." Troy said, continuing. "Why would he punch me? I mean, if there's a war waged between us, it would help if I knew why." Gabriella's face maintained still and pale.

"Um, yeah, I guess I would wanna know that too." Gabriella began. "Let's put it this way, Nate is a typical guy."

"Thanks a lot." Troy said with a grin.

"Can I finish?" Gabriella said, a small smile cracking. "He felt the need to defend his ground, he thought you were the intruder."

"What do you mean?"

"Nate is the captain of the East High basketball team, and you were the capital of the West High." Gabriella began to explain. "That made you the ultimate enemies."

"Um, did he even know about the accident?" Troy asked.

"I thought he did." Gabriella said. "I thought everyone did, I guess it just didn't matter all that much to him."

"Well, I don't think it was an overreaction to something as stupid as a basketball rivalry. Are you sure there wasn't anything else?" Troy asked, his mind was still reeling from the revelation of Vicki, he felt the need to play detective.

"Not that I know of." Gabriella said with a sigh, while saying what she knew was a huge, disgusting lie.

"You okay?" Troy asked, examined Gabriella's face. She looked so pale, maybe even scared. "Look I didn't mean to push it that hard. Sorry if it's a sore subject. Did you know the guy?"

"Nate?" a little voice asked. It was Natalie walking into Troy's hospital bedroom. She had a little piece of paper folded in her hands, this time with a little ribbon wrapped around it. Then she turned to Gabriella. "Didn't he used to be your boyfriend? Actually I don't even remember you guys breaking up. You dated right before Troy moved in, right?"

At that moment Gabriella was silently cursing Natalie's youthful ignorance about when it is appropriate when to talk and when you should keep your mouth shut. But Natalie's eyes were fixated on Gabriella longing to know the answer. But once their two eyes connected Natalie instantly looked away, as if Gabriella's eyes were burning hers. Natalie's face suddenly turned from curious to...angry. "I see." the little girl said, letting out a sigh that was fit for a person many years older than she was. Then she turned to Troy, who's eyes were darting back and forth between Gabriella and Natalie.

He gave Natalie a look, and Natalie instantly knew that Troy would pay attention to her soon, but first he had to talk to Gabriella.

"You dated him?" Troy asked, his eyes, one slightly swollen, widening in shock. "You dated the guy who punched me and landed me in the hospital?" Gabriella put down her homework and stood up defensively.

"No, Troy. I didn't date him!" she instantly said, hands waving around while she was talking. "I would never, ever date a guy who would do that. Natalie was mistaken. Nothing ever happened between us." Then she turned to Natalie, expecting her to agree. "Right Nat? You made a mistake."

Natalie had learned that in life there were things you had to do for the people you cared about, like lie for them, so that they can live their lives happily. A very difficult lesson for such a young girl, though she was wise beyond her years. But she learned that lesson well, she just chose not to follow it. "Maybe I was wrong, but you did kiss him. A lot."

"Great." Troy said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. "Anything else you'd like to add Natalie, since I know I'm not getting the truth out of Gabriella." Troy somehow knew that the truth would come out with Natalie. He knew that since she can see into his past, maybe she can see into Gabriella's past to.

"Well, he wanted to date her, and she did go out on some dates with him. But I guess they just weren't boyfriend and girlfriend." Natalie said, with her arms crossed, looking at Gabriella in a challenging way. "Right Ella?"

"You really don't know what your talking about." Gabriella said harshly, taking steps closer to her little cousin. Why is Natalie doing this to her. And more importantly how did she know? No one else but Chad and Sharpay knew. How did Natalie know? Sure she hasn't revealed any information too damaging, but Gabriella had a weird feeling she knew it. A sick little thought that all this time Natalie has known everything.

"I think I know what I'm talking about Ella. Much more than you do! And it makes me sick!" Natalie shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "And maybe if you would open your eyes just a little, you would see what is going on around you and what you're doing to everyone!" and with that she turned to Troy, and opened his hand, then placed her wrapped up drawing in it. "Look at this, I made it for you." she said, before stomping out of the room.

"That girl thinks she knows everything. She thinks she's so smart." Gabriella started ranting once Natalie was gone. Pacing around the room, with anger and a whole lot of fear building up inside of her. Troy just looked at her in a whole new light. Why did Natalie snap like that? Maybe, just maybe, Gabriella can't be trusted. He put the drawing Natalie gave him aside and grabbed Gabriella's hand, forcing her to look him directly in the eye. Then he asked the question Gabriella has been dreading, "What aren't you telling me?"


	8. The Truth

**Okay I want to thank everyone for their reviews, it is much appriciated. And I am going to try and update more often, since now it's all gonna start to come together, it's not ending yet but it's getting there. Again thank you everyone for all your reviews and I hope you like this chapter! Please read, review, and enjoy**

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Gabriella has made up many absurd lies in her lifetime, Troy had too. Actually their entire existence together was made up of lies. Sure, their feelings for each other were true, but was anything else about their relationship? In the past, hidden dark and twisted secrets managed to tear them apart, but Gabriella's fear is, will that happen in the present too?

"Gaby, what aren't you telling me?" Troy repeated, hand still grasped to Gabriella getting tighter to make sure she wouldn't run, but making the girl more and more uncomfortable.

"I'm not going to talk about this." Gabriella said, trying to stay as strong as possible, but she had a shaking voice. All she wanted to do was run away into a dark little hole and never come out. That's how bad she felt about the situation and that's how much she wanted to escape it. She actually tried to run, she pulled her arm away from Troy to make her escape. He pulled back, now shakily standing up.

"No! What aren't you telling me?" Troy asked, again, now yelling and pulling Gabriella closer to him against her will. By this point she was locked into his arms, shaking in fear, with tears streaming down his face. She kept trying to get Troy to let go of her, but he wouldn't, he persisted in his line of questioning.

"Tell me. Now!" Troy yelled. Gabriella just stopped fighting the escape and since she was much shorter than the guy holding her against her will, she had to look up at him to make eye contact. "Don't turn into him." she whispered out slowly. "Please, Troy, please don't turn into him."

"Who?" Troy asked, still his demanding voice full of anger. Gabriella turned her head away, wondering if these tears will permanently stain her face. "You're not leaving until you answer."

"I...what I mean was...don't turn into them. Not again." Gabriella whimpered out. Not again? Not again? Troy's mind was reeling but he still wouldn't release Gabriella without an answer. "Who is them?"

"Nate, and your dad," Gabriella said, the last person was the hardest to get out. "Please, don't turn into them, and don't turn back into...you." Troy instantly let her go. Half because his mind was going full speed at what she had just said and half because he had not stood up in this long and needed to lie down from dizziness.

"Don't turn back into me?" Troy asked, now sitting on his bed. Gabriella had her arms crossed against her chest protectively, eyes all puffy and red and her face blotched. "You...me...what?"

"I'm sorry." Gabriella said, but it was almost incomprehensible because along with those words came another rush of tears. "I am so, so sorry."

Troy had suddenly realized something, something he should have realized a long time ago. He had known Gabriella a few days, yet she instantly connected with him and him to her. It was impossible that they hadn't seen each other since they were young.

"You knew me, didn't you?" Troy asked, breathing more calmly now, purely out of shock. "Recently, before the accident, you knew who I was." Gabriella just lightly nodded her head. Troy stood up again, but then the room felt like it was spinning so he forced himself to sit down again.

"Why?" he shouted from his bed. Gabriella backed up a few feet. "Why would you make this lie? Why would you never tell me? Why would you keep this a secret from me? Does everyone know?"

"Chad and Sharpay knew." Gabriella quietly said with a hoarse voice. Troy just buried his head in his hands, trying to contain his fury. And his confusion. It took a long silence for him to look up. When he finally did, he was surprised to see that Gabriella was still standing there, still looking petrified, but still there.

"Anyone else know? Because I don't know if I completely believe you. And it doesn't make any sense, why wouldn't your mom know? Why wouldn't anyone else know? You have to explain this!"

"I want to Troy, believe me. I've wanted to for a while and it's been killing me." Gabriella cried.

"Then start explaining." he said coldly, refusing to look at Gabriella.

"You're dad knew, Nate too." Gabriella added. Then she took a deep breath and made a move she didn't even expect herself to, she sat down next to Troy and put her hand to his face. It was warm and soft, yet he wouldn't look at her, forcing her to turn his head towards her. "Please, I'm gonna say it again. Don't turn into them. Just let this go."

"How do you expect me to do that?" Troy asked, finally looking at her. "I can't remember a thing and you expect me to just take this pathetic explanation and act like all is fine? Why should I trust you?"

"Because I love you. And maybe you've forgotten, but you used to love me too." Gabriella confessed, another tear rolling down her cheek. She knew it was time, it was time for the explanation that Troy deserved. No more running. Troy looked shocked and somewhat relieved but she carried on. "You're dad found out, and it all went bad."

"Found out what? That we were in love?"

"Yeah, and he went ballistic. I had never seen anyone that upset in my life. He demanded that we end it and if not..." Gabriella paused, again her eyes were watering up. "Troy, he caused this. Can we just leave it at that?"

"No. It's not that simple anymore. What did he do?" Troy asked, tempted to just wipe away the tears on the face of Gabriella, the girl he loved, or at least used to, and hold her in his arms. She looked scared. But he didn't know what to think? He didn't know if he could trust her. He should be raging with fury right now. So all he could do was press on and get the truth. "What did he do?"

"Troy, please don't do this." Gabriella pleaded. "Please?"

"I think at this point I deserve to know."

"You and him, I don't know got into a fight and you made me leave. And then he came to my house," Gabriella said, pausing again with a pained look. "Then he dragged Nate into this. And everyone got hurt."

"How?" Troy asked, coming closer to Gabriella, this time, seeing the fear in her and feeling the need to comfort her. "You can tell me, how?"

"Yes, how Gabriella? We're all dying to know." a deep voice said from the other side of the room. Sitting in a wheelchair across the room was Mr. Bolton, this time not in a coma.


	9. Three Months Ago

**I know a lot of people are waiting on this story...and I am soooo sorry it took so long to update. Things got a little crazy with finals. But now that summers here I can update more often. More will be revieled in this chapter (through a flashback) but it'll still be confusing. But I'm going to be ending the story shortly...so I'll make sure it all comes together. I thank everyone for reading and reviewing! So please read, review, and enjoy!**

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Silence befell the room. Mr. Bolton waited, with an extremely calm face staring at Gabriella. It was as though he was enjoying causing Gabriella this emotional pain. Troy's eyes instantly hit his father, but apparently his father had no interest in Troy whatsoever. Only Gabriella. Don't turn into him, she said, why? Troy wanted to know.

"Gabriella," Troy said, it was one of the first things he said to her today using a voice that wasn't full of rage. "I think you owe it to me to tell me what happened back then." He completely ignored his father's miracle awakening, he wanted the truth. And Gabriella wanted to tell Troy everything, at the moment she was reviewing the entire experience in her mind.

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Three Months Ago

"Troy, why do you do stuff like this?" Gabriella asked, shoving him through the door to his own house. He stumbled the whole way in. As he was about to fall Gabriella caught him and pulled him up to her, so on his unsteady knees he was looking her straight in the eye. His were bloodshot and had a lost look in them.

"Stuff like what?" he asked, with a slurred voice, a reeking smell coming from his mouth. Gabriella just shoved him even farther into the house and pushed him down on the couch. Once she was certain he wouldn't fall off, she stood up and took the stance the Troy called "Bitch on Wheels" where her hands were placed on her hips and she had an all serious business face, a look that could kill.

"Stuff like this! Getting drunk at a party where you were my ride home! How the hell am I supposed to get there now! A ride from your parents?" she said with a scoff "And I can't leave myself because your dad will know the car's missing, that thing's more of a son to him than you are. Did you even consider I'm not supposed to be here? We are a secret! Remember?"

"No you are. You are supposed to be here. Right next to me is where you should always be. It's where you're meant to be." Troy said, heavily lifting his head up and somewhat struggling to keep it up while he said it.

"Stop it with the cheesy crap. I'm not buying it. You always say this stuff when you're drunk, but never when you're sober. So why bother believing it?" Gabriella said, walking over to another room to retrieve a bucket for when all the alcohol consumption finally caught up with Troy...again. She arrived back with the bucket and kneeled down to place it beside her. And before she could stop him Troy lifted Gabriella up onto the couch with him, so that they were looking at each other face to face, lying side by side on the unusually large couch that Mrs. Bolton spent an enormous amount of money on.

"I love you." Troy said, stroking Gabriella's hair. Gabriella sighed and let her head fall into his hand, just to feel his skin against hers. She knew he loved her. Her heart knew it, her head didn't quite agree.

"Well you only say it when you're like this." Gabriella said, now her head resting on his shoulder. "I want to feel like you love me all the time. Not just when you are drunk at a party and act like this, or when we are sneaking around." she turned to look at him. "I love you so much, when I'm not around you, I want to always be special. I want to always be there in your heart. But I know I'm not." Gabriella said, now her voice shaking as she stood up and backed away from the couch. Tears were rolling down her face now.

"Gaby, what are you doing?" Troy asked, moaning and forcefully dropping his head down onto the couch pillow in frustration. He hated it when Gabriella got emotional. Which was far to often recently.

"I'm leaving. I'm not supposed to be here."

"My mom's having a 'girls weekend' with her friends. And Dad doesn't get back from his basketball game for another hour. Don't leave yet." Troy said, still with a slightly slurred voice. "Besides you have no way of getting home."

"I'll walk." Gabriella said harshly.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Troy asked, knowing that whenever she got like this he did something wrong and he would have to fix it. He would just prefer fixing it when his head didn't hurt so much.

"I know about her Troy." Gabriella said, with crossed arms and wet tears. "I know about her!"

"What? Aly? Listen, Aly was a one night thing!" Troy said, now cautiously standing up. "You're my girl, she meant nothing."

"Aly! I was talking about Mackenzie! I saw you and Mackenzie!" Gabriella shouted, fresh tears leaking from her eyes. "There's an Aly!"

"Gaby, I'm sorry." Troy said, reaching out to her and pulling her close to him. "I'm sorry." he whispered in her ear. She shoved him away.

"Yeah, so am I. For ever thinking you were different than your father!" Gabriella said, keeping her distance, she turned to walk away.

"Hey, I hate my dad as much as the next person, but don't say that!" Troy said, for some reason he couldn't comprehend finding the courage to defend his father. "This is just as much his fault as it is your mother's!"

This comment made Gabriella sharply turn around to face Troy and stay away from the door. "How dare you bring my mother into this!" Gabriella shouted.

"Well, the reason my mom is on her 'girls weekend' is because she needed a break from the divorce. Because what happened? Oh, yeah, she found my Dad in bed with your mom! Funny story, huh? If anyone has the bad parent here it's you."

"He put my mom in the hospital when she told your mom out of guilt! She's not the bad guy. And what about us? He won't let us be together so my own mother doesn't even know that she slept with my boyfriend's father. Because of what your dad said, what he THREATENED to do, I can't say I word. I just have to take part in this entire, twisted thing and pretend I'm okay with it. And I'm not!" Gabriella shouted back at Troy. "And that's not the point! You slept with Aly AND Mackenzie and God only knows who else. And I've been completely faithful."

"Ha." Troy laughed, a bitter laugh. "Nate?"

"Nate is no one. He's a guy who likes me, I don't like him. The guys a psycho."

"I love you and they meant nothing." Troy said, changing the subject. He knew Gabriella too well. He knew she would never do that to him. And he knew, Nate truly was a psycho. He'd witnessed that part firsthand.

"Oh, so it's okay for you to sleep around with other people as long as you don't feel anything for them and you're still in love with me! Okay, thanks for filling me in on the rules, because I was a little fuzzy on them." Gabriella said, turning around again and then letting out a yell.

"Hello Gabriella." Mr. Bolton said, with a basketball in hand and a wicked grin on his face. Gabriella remained silent and Troy instinctively came closer to Gabriella until he was standing right next to her, ready and willing to push her out of harms way at any moment. "How's your mother doing?"

"Go to hell." Gabriella said coldly.

"Yeah, probably." Mr. Bolton commented. "Anyway, you're in love with my son. I knew he loved you, but that was three years ago. And frankly I'm shocked you loved him back led alone put up with him for these years. Trust me, Aly and Mackenzie are just the beginning." Gabriella felt more hot tears coming on, but held them back because of who she was in front of.

"To bad I was so busy making a fool out of your mother, I could've warned you about Troy." he added. Gabriella was ready to pounce but Troy pushed her back. "Don't talk to her like that!" Troy shouted stepping closer to his father.

"I can't believe you disobeyed me! You knew how I felt about Vicki, you knew that's why you two couldn't be together. I am an idiot I guess. I was so in love with Vicki, and so wrapped up with keeping her a secret, I guess I never realized that my son was screwing that slut of a daughter she's always complaining about!" Mr. Bolton shouted right back at him.

"You knew?" Gabriella said quietly, dragging Troy's attention back to her. "You knew this entire time? Why didn't you say something! My mom might not have ended up in the hospital, beaten by him!" she said pointing to Mr. Bolton. "If you would've said something."

"I thought if I got close to you, he'd back off." Troy replied, honestly.

"Great," Gabriella said sarcastically. So she never even mattered in the beginning. It was all about his dad.

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure Gabriella will be very happy in Nate's arms, Troy. Because this looks all down hill from here with you guys."

"Nate?" the two teens said in unison.

"You'll see what I mean soon enough Gabriella." Mr Bolton added in suspicious way. "Now time to deal with you Troy." Next thing Gabriella knew Troy was lying on the floor his mouth spurting blood, this was the first time she saw this happen. Nate was the second time and the third, and the time at school would make it the fourth.

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Present Time

"Gabriella?" Troy said, reaching out and touching her hand the way he used to when he really cared for her. "Please?"

"I have to go." Gabriella said with a shaking voice. Then she ran out of the room, ran into the ladies room, and just sat there, her entire body trembling. She never wouldn't guessed that the night she just relived would have started all of this.


	10. Remember That?

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love to hear what you think. As you can see I am starting to string the events together. I think I've left you in agony for too long. I have more of this story to tell, but it might not last as long. I'm still debating on what to add or what to cut out, but I think the story is coming to a close. Again thank you everyone for reviewing and please continue because I love to hear that people enjoy it! So as always, read, review, and ENJOY!!**

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He was so close! He almost had the truth out of Gabriella and then she just ran. She was going to tell him too. Then who else showed up but his father? Troy stared at the door, his mind replaying Gabriella's figure running out. Her shadow seemed to speak her emotions...fearful, angst ridden, regretful. And it was all because of one man. The man who just wheeled his wheelchair over to him.

"Good to see you, Son." Mr. Bolton said, for the first time since announcing his arrival fixating his eyes on Troy. Before meeting Gabriella and the rest of her family, when he was lying in the hospital bed before, he had imagined meeting his father many times. He had imagined the immense joy he would feel at the sight of this man, alive, awake, and wanting to talk to him. But at the moment he felt something so far from joy, he felt repulsion.

Whether it was from his mother's words, the dream he had of his father, maybe Natalie's drawing, or most likely Gabriella's words and reaction, he felt a sudden stream of repulsion. And almost hated himself for wishing his father never woke up. But that's what he wished, with all of his heart he wished that this stranger, a man he knew was no good, would just stay out of his life. But while watching his father stare at him emotionlessly he knew avoiding him would be impossible.

"Are you going to say anything? I would've thought you would wanna catch up with your old man." he said with a chuckle. Troy just gave him a look of revulsion and said "Why is Gabriella so scared of you?"

"Troy, I just woke up from a coma and you want to know about petty things from the past. We have a fresh start now. We can just leave that all behind." He said, almost like he'd rehearsed what he would say if this came up in the conversation. "We can leave her behind."

"Well, you know what? I think she's the one part of my past life I wanna know more about. You can wait." Troy said, before slowly making his way out of bed. His knees almost buckling under his own weight because it had been so long since he'd walked.

"Where are you going?" Mr. Bolton asked, anger building in his voice.

"Where ever you aren't." Troy smugly replied, before walking out of the room into the hallway of the hospital. He wasn't quite sure why he had acted like that towards his father, but his gut instinct told him to. An even stronger instinct said to find Gabriella.

Troy thought it would be difficult finding Gabriella but it wasn't nearly as hard as he had anticipated, after only three minutes of walking, or more like stumbling around, he saw Gabriella walk out of the ladies room, tear stains on her face.

"Hey," he managed to say, not sure how to approached the situation. Gabriella jumped a little at the sound of a voice she recognized coming from behind her.

"Oh, Troy." she said, in what was barely a whisper, a very shaky one at that. "Um, you're walking. That's good."

"Yeah, so hopefully I can get out of this place soon." he said awkwardly, not quite sure what to do with himself or what to say.

"Oh yeah about that, I ran into the doctor and he said you're free to go. My mom signed you out earlier today. Natalie came to tell you..." and then her voice trailed off after she remembered the events that happened after Natalie's visit. Troy didn't let her dwell on it too much.

"When can I go?" he asked.

"Um, now I guess, we can take my car." Gabriella said awkwardly. Not really waiting for Troy to follow, just expecting him to know where she was going she walked away. Troy struggled to keep up but finally he made it to her car just a few steps behind Gabriella.

Gabriella went through her purse fumbling for her keys. It looked as though more silent tears had been streaming down her face when her back was turned to him.

"Look," Troy said, putting his hand on the hood of her car for support. "I know what happened today was stressful. And completely unexpected on my part. And I guess I could've handled it better."

"After what I did you handled it just fine." Gabriella shot back at him before her eyes jetted down to her purse again.

"Yeah, I guess." Troy said, knowing he had every right to be screaming at her right now. But something about Gabriella made it impossibly hard for him to be angry at her. He supposed the revelation he just discovered about them dating might have something to do with it. That is when he realized how equally hard it must have been for her as well as him. It was shown on her face, it looked worn and tired, stress seemed to be building in her eyes, expressing itself through tears. Exploding whenever it deemed appropriate. Maybe he should be handling her as carefully as she had been attempting to handle him.

"Can we at least talk about some stuff?" he asked, after he gave Gabriella some time to find her keys. She looked up at him with a look pleading him to stop asking questions. So Troy attempted to shoot that same pleading look at her, asking for questions. She sighed and muttered for him to get in.

After he sat he noticed her hands gripped the steering wheel very tightly and almost violently. She sighed and looked up at him. "You wanna talk, let's talk. But here. I don't trust myself driving and talking about this at the same time."

"Deal." Troy said with a smile, knowing they could at least be honest with each other now. "So why are you so scared of my Dad?" he asked bluntly, not wanting to dance around any questions.

Gabriella just chuckled to herself, looked up and muttered, "Karma." then she looked back at him. "You couldn't have asked me an easier question to start off?" Then she gazed into the parking garage, following each car with her eyes while collecting her thoughts.

"You asked me to marry you. Did you know that?" Gabriella asked, finally turning to him. Troy felt his stomach jump. The thought of being married. Wow, that was all that Troy could think, wow.

"No. I didn't." he said, not quite sure how to respond. This was not the question he asked.

"I said no. I said we were too young. And I said that everything with our parents would ruin it. Besides, they'd never give us permission even if I said yes." she said, more tears rolling down her face.

"Our parents? How would they ruin things?" Troy asked, remembering the comment his mother made in his dream on how not to trust Vicki.

"Complicated." Gabriella responded curtly. Troy did not let up so she gave in. "Your dad had an affair with my mom. My mom told your mom three months ago." Troy sat in his seat silently not sure what to say. That would explain why his mother was angry at Vicki.

"Did you ever notice the scar on my mother's neck?" Gabriella asked. Troy solemnly shook his head. These were really confusing questions she was asking him. "You're dad did that." she responded. Troy was suddenly glad he walked out on the pathetic man he had to call his father.

Then she clutched the wheel again, this time her grip hardly on it at all. "Look Troy, I'm tired. Can we talk more about this after a good night's sleep?" she turned, asking him, tears welling up in her eyes again. She wondered if they would ever stop.

Troy didn't say anything, he just took his hand and gently wiped the tears from Gabriella's face. Leaning in close to her he began to speak. "I do remember one thing."

"What's that?" Gabriella asked with a shaking voice.

"I remember that I loved you. Did you know that?" he asked.

"If you were really good at this remembering stuff you'd remember that I hate it when you say that because you never mean it." Gabriella said, another stream of tears coming down. She hated being overemotional like this. Troy just quickly swiped the tears away.

"No, I meant it. That feeling survived amnesia, it was definitely real." he said, and then, on instinct, moved in even closer until their lips with brushing up against each other. He expected Gabriella to turn away, but she didn't. So he gave her a soft, gently kiss. She kissed him back stronger than he had intended. But she didn't seem happy, in fact he could feel more hot tears running down her face. Finally she pulled her lips away from his and whispered, "I think it's time to go back home and check on Natalie." and then quickly turned away, acting as if the kiss had never even happened.


	11. Blank

**Sorry it's taken so long to update and I thought this chapter would be different and filled with something completely different but really this is just a filler chapter. I just have to get the hang of writing for this story again...it's been awhile. Sorry about that. I will try and update ASAP. Thanks to all my readers!**

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"No more questions?" Troy asked, probably pushing his luck with Gabriella. She had already broken the promise that she made to herself and told him more things about their past. Like Aly and Mackenzie for example. Troy was beginning to understand why he shouldn't turn back into the old him. But he had a fear, maybe it was irrational but it was strong. What if he did become that person? Even if it was unintentional, can you really change who you are? Troy decided yes and he was going to try harder than ever to do that. But first he'd need some answers. "So, what's up with this Nate guy?"

Gabriella shut off the ignition of her car once they finally arrived back at her house, his house too, she reminded herself. Why couldn't he just shut up? Gabriella asked herself. Sure, she probably did screw him over and she deserved to treat him well now. But hadn't she gone through enough today? A good night's sleep is what she needed before she could answer any more questions. Especially the one just asked.

"Troy, I don't know. Nate is...a psycho." Gabriella said frustrated as she slammed her car door as much as possible. Hoping somehow that the shaking of the car would startle Troy in some way, or at least give him the hint that she didn't want to talk about this subject.

"Define psycho?" Troy said, struggling to keep pace with her as she marched up the pathway. Gabriella just shrugged. Troy stopped her a shot her a look. A look she knew too well from the years she spent with him. She wasn't going to get out of this.

"I don't know. Psycho, lunatic, deranged, deluded. Anything else?" she asked, a bitter tone exploding through her voice.

"Actually..."

"Troy," Gabriella said, turning around and placing her hand in front of him. "What part of incredibly long day and I don't want to talk about it don't you get? Look, I swear I will tell you as much as I can tomorrow. But can you let me have a night to soak it all in please? It's not pleasant."

Troy looked down to the ground, was he being selfish? He asked himself. He deserved the whole story, but maybe it was a difficult one for Gaby. Maybe he should be more respectful of those emotions.

"Okay, tomorrow then." Troy said, finally looking up at her. She smiled the most relived and exhausted, yet broad grin he had ever seen. It gave him a flashback to the kiss that the two shared in the car. The absolutely perfect kiss. That was definitely something that he would have to bring up tomorrow, at least while he had her talking.

"Thanks," Gabriella said, her head hung a little low, looking completely worn. "Oh and don't mention to my mom that you or I know anything about the affair that she had with your dad. Because she thinks that we don't know each other and that I'm clueless."

"Do you mind writing all this down? It's a lot of rules." Troy commented. Gabriella just gave him a playful punch and they made their way into the house.

In the kitchen they found Vicki sitting at the kitchen table looking as apprehensive as ever. Her normal smiling face, one that was seen so often on Gabriella, had disappeared and she looked as though she had aged years in a matter of hours.

"Mom, we're home." Gabriella said, snapping her mother out of her stupor.

"Oh thank goodness. Troy, I just got a call from the hospital." she said frantically.

"My dad's awake, I know. We spoke." Troy said, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Yes, well he'll be in the hospital a little while longer." Vicki said. Thank God! All three in the room thought at once.

"While you were with him..." Vicki began. But Gabriella cut her off in an instant. "Mom, Troy and I are both really tired and I have a major beyond major exam tomorrow. So can we just go upstairs. No worries, I'll bring him up and make sure he doesn't fall down and crack his head open or anything." And with that the two were granted access upstairs, with no questions asked about Jack Bolton.

Once Troy was laying in bed his head was spinning a little less and he could concentrate on information a little better. It was all so much he didn't even know where to begin or what to process first. He was too busy staring at Gabriella, who was cleaning up her cousin's side of the room. It was as an excuse to stay with Troy, but she didn't tell him that. After stalling as much as she could, not trying to leave his presence she handed Troy a carefully folded note.

"Here's what Natalie gave you. You must have dropped it in our escape." she said, and Troy quickly took the note from Gabriella, his hands begging him to open it but he wanted to wait until she left.

"What are in those notes she keeps giving you anyway?" Gabriella asked. Troy froze.

"Um, just quirky little drawings I guess." he finally replied.

"Well that sounds like her." Gabriella said before she exited the room with a wave goodbye, secretly longing to know what was in that note.

Troy carefully unfolded it, but found it was blank. It was completely and totally blank. No picture of him, no picture of anyone he recognized. Not even a note scribbled from Natalie. Just a carefully folded, blank paper. Why would she give him this?

Natalie was watching Troy's confused face from behind his door. Not with the same confused look Troy had on. In fact, her look was a look of joy. He figured it out on his own, she whispered to herself. But how did he know about his dad and the way he treated him? How did he remember that night where he hurt him? Natalie tossed a look to Gabriella's room and suddenly felt much prouder of her cousin. Then she trotted off to bedroom to work on another picture, because she knew there were some things that Gabriella would never tell Troy, no matter what. That, was Natalie's job.

Later that night another, much darker, and far more sinister note was slid under Troy's door. And once Troy read it, everything he ever thought about himself, Gabriella, and...Nate all changed in an instant.


	12. Hate

**Hey everyone. Thanks for all the reviews...I absolutely LOVE THEM!! I know I ended the last one on a cliffhanger (a little writers block and exhaustion combined) that's wht I wrote this up as quick as I can. There are still a few more chapters coming and I will be trying to answer some more questions since I want all the loose ends tied up. Just so you know...the writing in the italics is from the memory Troy is having. So whenever it goes into italics it's the memory not present time. Sorry it's a little rushed. Please read, review, and enjoy!!**

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Troy closed his eyes tightly, not because he was tired. Which he should be considering that it was three in the morning, but because he was appalled. With himself and with everything that had happened that night. He looked down at the picture that Natalie drew, giving him deep insight to the events and emotions of that fateful time and saw that his hands were shaking. In fact his whole body was shaking. He just couldn't sleep.

He gave one last glance to the picture. It was innocent enough in the beginning. It was just a picture of Troy, looking about the age he is now, he was only two months younger in the picture, talking to Chad with vivid hand motions. Sharpay was in the background, looking annoyed with her arms crossed and her hair painted in a vivid yellow. But the memory the picture stirred practically caused Troy physical pain.

In a swift second he crumbled up the picture and threw it against the wall, not caring if he woke up his sleeping roommate, Nick. Then he stood up and steadied his body. He had somewhere he needed to go. But even if his body could leave it, his mind could not leave the memory of that horrible night.

"_Come on, Man!" Troy said, throwing his arms up in the air, trying to suppress laughter. Was Chad seriously doing this?_ _"Joke's not funny anymore."_

"_Not a joke Troy. Just go, now." Chad said, his tone more serious and his arms crossed. He glared at Troy and shot a glance back to Sharpay who was standing in the same position as Chad, looking completely hopeless._

"_You are honestly not letting your best friend into your own house?" Troy asked. He glanced over to the people overwhelming Chad's home and listened to the music coming from the living room and all over the house. He could feel the beat of the music pulsing through him. He saw already drunk teenagers stumbling out, and lights on in the bedrooms where it was prime placement for party goers to get some alone time. He wanted to be in there so bad. Partly because it was a party and who doesn't want a good party? But mostly because Gabriella was in there, and last time they were together she wasn't in the best mood._

"_Let me at least see Gaby. I have to talk to her." Troy said, staring at his friends cold faces and realizing they weren't going to budge. Had Gabriella seriously turned them against him?_

"_She doesn't want to see you Troy. Not after what you did." Sharpay said, stepping forward, her glittering shirt blinding some drunk teens. "Why don't you go and call up one of your girlfriends." she suggested._

"_I would, but mine is in the house and I don't wanna use up my minutes." Troy responded. Then he started to walk towards the house, but Chad's strong hands stopped him and pushed him back to the place he was in. "I said no." he said in a steady and firm voice._

By this point his mind was going a mile a minute as he was wandering down the hall. He felt lost in that small hallway, like everything around him was moving too fast. Was that night really what started it all? Was that night what landed him in the hospital? His racing mind made walking a dizzying burden for Troy, that's why he almost fell over the little girl standing in the hallway. Waiting for him, it seemed like.

Troy fixed his gaze, put his hand against the wall steadying himself, and then Natalie came into clearer focus. She held in her hand the crumpled up paper Troy had thrown against the wall.

"Why do I even bother to draw this stuff up if you are just going to ruin it?" Natalie asked, in an almost musical voice, not to Troy but to herself. "Do you not know how to appreciate a masterpiece when you see it?"

"Natalie." Troy said, kneeling down to her height. "I need you to answer me a question."

"I've never been a fan of answering questions." she said with a sly grin. "I've always found that the answer to one leads to many more questions than you originally had."

"Is this real?" he asked, pointing to the picture in her hand. She looked down. "Seems real enough to me."

"I mean," Troy said, feeling breathless and infuriated that she wouldn't directly answer his question. That she wouldn't tell directly tell him. "No, is what happened in this picture real?"

"I don't know." Natalie said, looking thoughtful. "Does it feel real to you?" she asked, her eyes inspecting his, almost reading into them.

"Would I be stumbling around in the middle of the night if it didn't?" he asked.

"Good point."

"How do you know?" he asked. He needed to know how she knew so much about his life, but he could hardly grasp onto a single detail without her picture prompts.

"Think back to my comment about questions and answers. I don't think you need anymore questions on your mind." she said, then she gave his eyes one last inspection and gracefully waltzed back to her bedroom. Does that girl even sleep?, Troy asked himself.

_I love how Chad keeps his back door unmanned and unlocked, Troy though to himself, while taking a few confident strides through Chad's backdoor, leading into his kitchen. There you could see the party in full swing. He wasn't friends with many of Chad's friends because he was from an enemy town, usually he would take this chance to socialize. Especially since he couldn't find the few people he knew. But he was on a mission to find Gabriella._

"_I don't think you're supposed to be here." Jason's voice said from behind Troy, forcing him to spin on his feet to face him. "Chad gave us orders."_

"_Jason, my man! Listen, have you seen Gaby?" he asked, almost in a hushed tone, as though hearing Gabriella's name out loud would alert Chad to his whereabouts. _

"_I don't know." Jason curtly responded, staring at the door that Troy had come in through. "You shouldn't be here."_

"_Is she with Sharpay?" Troy asked, his head bobbing around Jason looking for the petite brunette. He saw Sharpay dancing with her boyfriend Zeke. Maybe she was_ _with Chad then._

"_Troy," Jason almost pleaded._

"_How about this," Troy proposed. "You tell me where Gaby is and I might just give you a little heads up on the plays we're gonna use next game." Troy said with a cocky grin, knowing this just sealed the deal. Jason looked around helplessly but finally spoke. _

"_Last time I saw her she was going upstairs."_

Troy thought about knocking on Gabriella's door but figured she probably wanted some sleep, so he just let himself in without permission. He had a vague feeling he had entered without permission to surprise her many times before. The room was dark, but he knew how to navigate it and could hear Gabriella's soft breathing. He slowly groped around the room and found the light next to her bed and turned it on, getting a view of Gabriella. She was wrapped tightly under the covers, her fingers tightly grasping the edges like she was in pain, her hair mangled all around her face. Troy couldn't help but notice that this didn't look like a pleasant slumber.

Without thinking about what he was doing, he pulled the sleeping beauty into his arms and stroked her hair, her body relaxed, and her face seemed to calm. Troy felt a lot calmer too, but the serenity went away when he caught a look at her hand and at the scar he inflicted into it.

_As Troy walked upstairs he was almost positive that he heard Gabriella's voice coming from Chad's room. Chad always kept his room off limits at parties, unless it was for himself. And he knew Chad wasn't in there, so what was she doing in there? He put his ear up against the door and listened instead of just storming in._

"_You are seriously deranged you know that." he heard Gabriella whisper. What was it with her and that word? Troy thought, every time she was angry at Troy, the word 'deranged' always seemed to come out of her mouth. She must be pissed at whoever was in there._

"_I don't care what he said!" she hissed. "It is not the truth and it would be best if you just stopped!" she said, her voice escalating. Who was she talking to? Troy thought. For some reason a part of him said not to go in. A part of him said to learn more before he confronted her. After all, he had cheated on her, who is to say what she would do in retaliation. _

"_No." she said in a whisper. "I said no!" she now yelled almost in hysterics now. Troy immediately was at the ready to burst in when he heard her voice steady again. The door was already slightly open, but not enough for Gabriella and whoever was in there to notice. He cracked the door slowly and quietly open it a bit little more, to see who she was with. Nate Henson was leaning close to her, his lips grazing her ear. He was saying something. A surge of fury rose in Troy, but oddly enough it looked like the words he was saying caused that same fury in Gabriella, fear too._

_Troy knew the face she had on. It was the face she always used when his father was nearby and she was ready to start a fight with him. It was a face he had seen many times. So Troy naturally expected her to get angry and push him away. And it looked like she was about to._

"_He wouldn't even try it." she spat back, her voice shaking. "I don't believe you." Nate leaned in and whispered something else into Gabriella's ear. It looked like a tremble of fear and agony went through Gabriella's body, but in the next minute she had her arms locked around Nate's neck and was kissing him, which he was happily returning. That's when Troy intervened._

"_What the hell is going on here?" he said, bursting through the door angrily. It slammed into Chad's wall and part of it fell off of the hinges. Nate gently pushed a even more fearful Gabriella away and turned to Troy, smirking an evil grin._

"_You see," he said. "I was just about to hook up with your girlfriend." _

"_Like hell you were." Troy said, and then threw a punch at Nate, hitting him square in the jaw and causing him to fall to the floor._

"_Troy, stop it!" Gabriella practically screamed, running over to Troy. "Don't do anything to him. Please." she begged, tears falling down her face. One fell to the ground and landed on the glass table in Chad's room, creating a salty puddle of her pain._

"_Why are you defending him?" Troy asked, almost ready to throw Gabriella up against the wall, his rage growing. "Why were you even kissing him?"_

_By this point Nate had gotten up and tossed a quick punch at Troy, making Gabriella wince as he fell to the ground. But Troy recovered much quicker than Nate and got up quickly again standing right next to Gabriella. And again Nate wore an evil smile and tossed it at Gabriella. "Why don't you tell him Gaby?" _

_Gabriella crossed her arms and slowly stepped away from Troy, he grabbed her too quickly and pulled her back towards him. "Tell me what?" Gabriella's lips moved but all Troy heard was a mumbled whisper._

"_What?" Troy demanded, practically shaking her._

"_I choose him." she whispered, tears streaming down her face, her head still facing down towards the floor. Troy felt his fists clench and another wave of fury pass through. But before he could do anything Nate came up beside Gabriella, with his arm around her waist._

"_I win." he muttered. Troy quickly threw out another punch, hitting Nate, but while he fell he reached his arm out and dragged Gabriella down with him. She hit Chad's glass table with a crash. Glass suddenly went flying everywhere, along with red liquid. Troy looked down and saw a shard of glass protruding from Gabriella's hand._

"_Gaby, I," he said, wordless for what he just did, rushing to her aid. But he just kicked him in the shins when he tried to kneel down, causing him to fall to the ground, just nearly missing the glass._

"_Troy," she said, in a voice as strong as she could, which was difficult because she was wincing in pain. "I'm done. I can't do it anymore. I choose him!"_

"_Him?" Troy asked, standing up and trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his shin. "Why him?" he shouted, almost in agony. Staring at her like this, watching Nate SMILE when she was bleeding, and losing her. It was too much. He wanted to scream. And that he did. "Why him?" he screamed._

"_Because I hate you!" She spat back, anger filling her every syllable. "I hate when you act like this, I hate how you always act. I hate you. You can die tomorrow and I wouldn't even care. I just wish you were dead." _

Troy stroked Gabriella's hair even more. Did she mean it? "I just wish you were dead." he couldn't get that out of his head. The angry way she said it, the steadiness in her voice. The seriousness. The ache that she hated him, or at least the old him was overwhelming. The ache in knowing he had hurt her, however inadvertently it was, hurt him. But the fact that he caused her that much emotional pain, killed him. He wished so badly he could take it all back, tears rolled down his face at the thought of it. He wanted to take it all back.

But what hurt even more was the possibility. He had read the police report about what caused his amnesia. And it was determined that it was no accidental car wreck. What hurt him the most was the strong possibility, that maybe she did want him dead. Maybe she took action.


	13. Yes or No?

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Thank you soooo much for all the reviews!! I'm glad people are enjoying this. And I'm sorry this chapter is a little rushed and jumping around from place to place...but Troy and Gabriella still have feelings for each other so it will be rushed and out of place...they are juggling the past and the present at the same time. This chapter is so you can see how much they still love each other. Sorry...it's taken so long and is a little spacy...but please enjoy!! I love reviews too!!

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Gabriella was smiling to herself, as she looked at the beautiful and amazingly gorgeous blue eyed boy passed out on her bed. Half of her had the mind to get up at Troy and yell at him. Why was he sleeping in her room? Was this at all about the kiss in the car yesterday? Or did he just want more answers? A part of her wanted it to be about the kiss in the car yesterday, but she tried as hard as she could not to admit that emotion to herself.

"Troy," she said, lightly shaking him. She would've let him sleep, he was quite adorable while he was sleeping, but she did have to get ready for school. He just lightly shoved her hand away and grabbed her pillow, burying his head under it. Just like the old Troy, Gabriella thought with a grin. "Troy, school, wake, up." she said, stopping in between each word to shake him a little.

Finally he stirred. Slowly he pushed the pillow off his head, but then quickly covered his face again when he saw Gabriella looking straight at him.

"I guess I'm not the only one who has some explaining to do today." she said with a grin, playfully hitting him with another pillow. "Did you know that you sleep through alarm clocks?" she added, walking to grab a towel for her shower.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Troy said with an awkward smile. He glanced over at Gabriella and was shocked to see that she was amused with this whole situation.

"Well," she said, her hand on her hip. "I think I can let this gross violation of the house rules slide if you tell me why you're here." she said, trying to keep the tone light but knowing, just instinctively knowing that something much deeper was going on.

"Complicated." Troy mumbled, rubbing his eyes to fully wake up.

Gabriella silently laughed to herself. "Today's Monday, every Monday after school Natalie meets with her friends at the park and I play babysitter. Accompany me, and bring answers too! Maybe candy if the kids get testy."

"Am I allowed to bring questions?" Troy asked with a grin. Gabriella sighed, and finally whispered yes, before mumbling, "Get out before my Mom catches you."

Troy obliged and got up from Gabriella's bed. She turned away from him but he caught her attention. "Hey Gabs?" he asked. She turned around, shocked at him using his old nickname for her. "Yeah?"

"Feels like old times doesn't it?"

"Oddly enough..." Gabriella said, pausing to think and to ask herself if this is really what she wanted to say. "Yes, we have been in this situation before."

"Thought so." Troy said with a smile before he left the room.

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Gabriella finished her "major exam" with ease and with twenty minutes left in class her mind was left to wander. She couldn't help but let it wander to Troy, and to the kiss, and to a night one month ago. The last night they shared together.

"_Troy alert." Sharpay instantly said. Gabriella threw her cheerleading pom pom's to the side and attempted to maneuver through the crowd and leave the room. She and Sharpay were cheering for East High Wildcat's championship game, against the West High team. West High won. And there were happy fans and angry fans._ _Most of whom were not to be messed with, but Gabriella most wanted to avoid to West High team captain, Troy Bolton._

_Once she almost made it to the door and to freedom, she felt a hand on her arm whip her to the side and out the door with him, making her yelp a little._

"_Why so skiddish?" Troy asked._

"_Bad hand." she said, as he dropped his grip she showed him her bandaged up hand from the party. The stitches were out but it still occasionally hurt._

"_Gabs, you know I'm..."_

"_Yeah, I know. Can we not talk about it?" she asked, her eyes pleading to Troy. "Please?"_

"_Listen Gabs, I just want to talk." Troy said, coming closer to her but keeping a good distance._

"_A college just offered me a scholarship to play basketball with them." Troy said with a smile. Gabriella tried to hide it, but couldn't help but be overjoyed too. This was what Troy wanted more than anything._

"_It's perfect. Because of the scholarship I can finally escape any ties to my Dad. Life is gonna be amazing."_

_Gabriella looked down at her bandaged arm. She wasn't angry at Troy for hurting her, it was a total and complete accident and it killed her that she had to make him think that she hated him. She didn't mean those hateful words the night of the party. But she HAD to say them. If she didn't Nate would...Gabriella couldn't even think about what Nate promised to do to Troy, but she knew he definitely would follow through with his promise. That's why she had to make Troy believe she didn't love him, that she hated him. She just had to, for his own safety._

"_I know I haven't been the best boyfriend, or person for that matter. But Gabs, I love you more than anything in this world." Troy said, forcing Gabriella to look him directly in the eye. "Hell I'd even give up basketball for you." he said with a chuckle. "And I want to prove that love, I want to be with you forever. And I want you to know that there is no other girl I could ever, possibly imagine ever spending my life with. No other girl I want to make a life with. And I'm gonna prove that to you."_

_Then, taking Gabriella's breath away, Troy got down on one knee and took a little box out of his pocket. Opening it and revealing a glistening ring that made it impossible for Gabriella to breathe._

"_Gabriella Montez, will you marry me?"_ _he asked. Gabriella looked around and realized that kids from all over were gawking at them and whispering. Troy saw, but he didn't even care, he stared directly at Gabriella. But Gabriella caught the eyes of Nate, his fists clenched. And instantly, those fists made Gabriella do something that would break two hearts._

"_I'm sorry Troy, I can't." Gabriella said. Instantly she ran, tears running down her face, making small salty puddles as she made her escape, and Sharpay chased after her. In her last moments exiting the school she could see Nate walking towards Troy._

Gabriella was in so much shock at the time that this happened, she didn't know if she would've accepted Troy's marriage proposal if Nate and everyone else wasn't involved. Some days when she thought about it, her mind said no way. Other days, her mind said, make him prove his commitment. Her answer always went back and forth. Logical and unlogical. But the one thing she always repeated to herself is that "I love him". Gabriella was deep in thought by this point. If the new Troy asked her, what would she say?

"Gaby," Sharpay said, waving her hand in front of Gabriella's face. "Bell rang like five minutes ago."

"Right." Gabriella said instantly embarrassed and clumsily grabbing her stuff.

"Thinking about Troy?" Sharpay asked with a grin.

"Shut up." Gabriella said, tossing her best friend a look and knowing that she absolutely could not tell her about the kiss.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sharpay said with a smile.

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"It's weird," Troy said, a few hours later when he and Gabriella were sitting on a bench in the park, watching as Natalie played with her friends. She seemed exuberant and excited, something she rarely was at home. "I never pictured Natalie with friends."

By this point in the day all suspicions of Gabriella causing the accident, ran out the door. Case closed, in Troy's mind. It was impossible. Gaby was just too...Gaby. There was absolutely no way she could hurt him. If anything, even after all that's happened between them the past few days, she makes him feel at ease.

Gabriella chuckled. "She's actually quite normal outside of the house. Things are just awkward at home, after what happened and all." Gabriella said, cocking her head to the side and looking at her cousin sadly. Then she turned to Troy. "Do you know what happened to Natalie's parents? Why she and Nick live with us?"

"No," Troy confessed. "I mean, Nick said they died but that's all."

"Yeah, well died is an understatement." Gabriella sighed. Troy knew she was going to tell him what happened, but it just looked like she needed time to collect her thoughts as she gazed at Natalie. Finally she looked back at Troy.

"They were murdered." she finally said. Troy went numb. Natalie's parents...murdered? How could something so terrible happen to sweet little Natalie?

"Three years ago. Natalie and Nick were sleeping, woke up and found them." Gabriella said, Troy could tell painful memories were coming back to her.

"Did they ever catch who did it?" Troy asked, now gazing at Natalie too.

"Nope. Tried for a while. Finally closed the case. Bottom line is...Natalie's weird around family now. Like she's scared she'll find them dead in the morning or something. She doesn't sleep much."

Gabriella could tell Troy was tense and hated that, so she changed the subject. "Speaking of sleep, did you happen to see Natalie while you were breaking in and then passing out in my bedroom last night?" she said, smiling at him with her entire face.

"Knew you would get to that." Troy said, outstretching his arms. "I'm guessing you wanna know why I was in your bed."

"Yeah, actually, I kinda do." Gabriella said, feeling a little awkward, but she had shared some more information today. So now it was Troy's turn.

"I had a dream." Troy began. "I don't know, it was you and me, at Chad's party. Nate was there and it felt so real. It was just, I don't know." Before Troy could finish anything he felt the air whoosh and then Gabriella's wrist, the one with the scar was in front of her face.

"This party?" she asked. He silently nodded. Gabriella didn't want to smile, but managed to put one on for Troy. "Looks like your memory's coming back to you." she said as cheerfully as she could muster, even though, she had no idea how she felt about that. Troy doesn't hate her anymore, but he certainly didn't need to know...everything. That could cause trouble.

"Yeah, and there was some stuff about Nate..." Troy continued. It was almost two hours they were at the park, and the entire time he was constantly asking Gabriella questions, he felt comfortable for some odd reason about asking her this one. But before he could, she cut him off.

"Troy, he's in jail now." Gabriella said, Troy could tell there was more coming.

"He is?" he asked, he had not known this piece of information or even thought to ask it.

"Yeah, after the whole punch-in-the-face incident they found drugs on him. And all over his house. The guys not getting out for a long time." Gabriella said, with a relaxed smile. The first relaxed smile Troy had seen on her in a while. Troy wanted to say something but Gabriella continued.

"Did you ever think this was actually a blessing in disguise? Like maybe you shouldn't know everything you did wrong in your life? I wish I could forget that. I wish I could forget all the bad stuff. I wish I had a second chance on being a better person. Being a different person, whoever I wanna be. But you do have that chance. Now you have to make the choice, do you want answers that could make you who you were? Or do you wanna start over and become who maybe you were meant to be, with a clean slate? Because, well, maybe this entire thing was fate." she ranted out.

"Second chances are nice." Troy commented. Then a sly grin erupted on his face as his mind flashed back to the kiss yesterday. "Would I get a second chance with you?" he asked.

Gabriella looked up and started at him directly in the eyes. He could see a pink flush in her cheeks, she was definitely blushing. And smiling too. That was a good sign.

But before she could answer, the parks serenity was broken by piercing screaming. Hysterical, ear shattering, pained screaming. Coming from Natalie.


	14. Goodbye Natalie

**I am so sorry for the insanely long wait. Life has been crazy. But I will try to update more often. And this chapter might be a little confusing, but I'm telling it through Vicki and Troy's conversation. If you are confused or have any questions about what happened, message me and I'll try to unconfuse you. I can be confusing...LOL. Thank you so much for all the reviews and FYI this is just a filler, but I'm closing things up soon. ENJOY! **

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Breathe, Gabriella, just breathe. Natalie will be fine. Gabriella kept repeating that to herself. She wanted to pace around the hospital waiting room, her legs were aching to, but her mind was just too tired and told her to stay put. Why is this happening? To Natalie of all people. To Natalie.

"To Natalie, not to her." Gabriella whimpered out in a shaky voice, her head collapsing to her knees. Natalie was more of a sister than a cousin, a sister. She always knew Natalie had issues, but this was too much. This can't be happening to her. This can't be happening to this family, to Nick. It's impossible.

"Gabs, you're talking to yourself." a voice said, breaking her out of her trance. It was less of the voice breaking her out of her stupor, but the hand that was now lain on her shoulder, the warm hand of Troy. "Calm, Gabs, calm." he whispered to her. But she couldn't be calm, not when this was happening. She had to cry, she had to lose her mind and cry, what else could she do?

It seemed like an eternity of tears leaking out of Gabriella's body, her chest felt like there was a truck blocking her airwaves, she was passing in and out of sleep and had given up on trying to decipher her hospital nightmare from her hospital reality.

"I don't need another child locked up in a mental hospital. I honestly don't." Vicki said, taking a deep breath while she took the seat next to Troy and Gabriella while staring at her daughter. Gabriella was comfortably curled up in Troy's arms, breathing with a shaky breath and looking as though she was having the most unpleasant of dreams.

"I think she's just kinda shocked." Troy said, commenting on Gabriella's dishelved appearance. "Obviously she didn't expect it."

"I didn't either." Vicki whispered out, looking like she was about to cry too. "I always assumed that Natalie was scarred from her parents death, but delusional? I never saw that coming."

Troy suddenly felt like he himself was insulted. Natalie wasn't delusional. She was special. She was heartbreakingly beyond comprehension. She was gone now.

"I don't think she's crazy." Troy mumbled, afraid to look Vicki in the eye, he didn't want to be the next in the hospital. "I think she's scared."

"Troy! She has issues!" Vicki said in anger standing up to look Troy directly in the eye. "A man was innocently walking by her in the park and she accused him of murdering her parents! She was asleep when they died. She knows nothing and she sees this man and starts hysterically screaming murderer!" Vicki said, tears rolling down her face, her eyes not capable on staying in one place anymore. They were scanning the room they were in, landing on the most random things.

"Did you ever consider she could be right? She found them dead, she probably knows better than anyone what happened. Maybe she recongnized a voice or something." Troy said, he couldn't believe this was happening. Natalie saw something in this man, she saw murder. Just like she saw something in Troy, his past. She looked and Gabriella and knew that she was lying about something. She saw what no one else could. Troy knew deep down, Natalie was special, not crazy. Should he tell Vicki about the letters? Would that even help after her meltdown at the park?

"Vicki, Natalie's been drawing me pictures." Troy suddenly blurted out. Vicki just looked at him like he said the most idiotic thing in the world.

"Of course she did!" she said with a brush of her hand. "It's her way of relieving stress."

"No, she draws pictures of something that happened in my life and I remember it after seeing the picture." Troy said, looking at Vicki severly in the eyes. Her eyes looked like they were screaming bloody murder. She slowly advanced towards Troy and knelt down to his level.

"I am putting one child I am responsible for in a mental hospital. You have a brain injury and a reason for your mistake. But understand, you are mistaken. Don't make me make this choice again." she said before walking away as though she had not just threatened him.

"So that's just it? You are locking her away? For one freak out?" Troy asked, his voice escelating.

"It's happened before Troy! It's been enough!" she screamed back at him. A sudden reality hit Troy.

"Has she met this man before?" he asked, referring to the man that Natalie began screaming at while she was at the park.

"He is a neighbor of ours. That we try to avoid. She doesn't like seeing him." Vicki said quietly.

"Because he killed her parents!" Troy shouted, fully believing Natalie's accusation of this man as a murderer now. Natalie was right, she was always right. And she was right about this.

"Not another word about murder or her parents. Do you understand?" Vicki muttered out in an almost sinister voice. "You are still a brain injury patient and you can end up back here with Natalie easily. Understand?"

Troy silently nodded. "Can I say goodbye?" he asked. Vicki nastily turned her head, "No," she said. "I already said goodbyes for you. If she's found sane enough in three months you can say whatever you want then. But don't corrupt her. Or my daughter," she said, shooting a glance at Gabriella who was still laying in Troy's arms, sleeping through the argument. This reminded Troy that she could sleep through about anything, just like him. "I can take her away from you too." Vicki said coldly before turning on her heel and walking away, Troy seeing her in an entirely new light.

"Gabs, what the hell is going on here?" he asked his sleeping love. She just curled closer to him and laid her head on his chest. For one second Troy forgot the troubles. But that was a fleeting second, because he could've sworn he heard Natalie screaming. Screaming to come home. Screaming for her mother.


	15. Here's the Truth

**Sorry this took so long....I have been insanely sick lately. And this chapter might be a little confusing and VERY fast. But I'm explaining some things and the next chapter will be a little easier to keep up with. Thank you for all the reviews and I'll try to update sometime this week.**

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"So, I think it's about time we talked." Gabriella quietly said, sitting next to Troy on the couch he occupied in the living room. Ever since Natalie had been taken away Troy has been quiet, he stopped asking questions and didn't seem himself. This entire day he had just been sitting on the couch. Sure, it had only been a week but Troy needed to move on. Gabriella decided it was time to answer all those questions she didn't want to answer. To give Troy a little bit of peace if anything and to give herself some of it too.

"Talked about what?" Troy said, not even looking up at Gabriella. Gabriella just sighed and said, "Talk about everything. Natalie, Nate, your Dad. Just get it all out."

"Okay," Troy said slowly, finally looking up at Gabriella. "You've got me listening."

"So first Natalie?" she asked, slowly.

"Yeah."

"The man she was screaming at was our neighbor." Gabriella began. "Natalie and Nick lived near us when their parents were alive, so he was their neighbor too. After it happened, I don't know, Natalie suddenly started acting differently. She never came out of her room, she just drew, and she always got this look in her eyes like she knew something that you didn't. But the weirdest thing was whenever this neighbor was around, even though he would usually be yards away, she would run inside crying. None of us knew why. All I know is, this was the closest she's even been to him."

"And that's why she freaked out? Why did she call him a murderer now?" Troy asked. "Did she say anything about him before?" Troy asked. "If she knew him for a long time, why now?"

"She never said anything. But, and here is the part that sounds crazy. Natalie isn't crazy, she's special. She's been special as long as I've known her. And I could never figure out how she knew things, it was just she looked me in the eyes and she knew something I never told her. The crazy part of me thinks she looked him in the eyes and knew." Gabriella said sighing and without noticing she fell into Troy's arms and rested her head on his chest while he wrapped him arms around her.

"What do we do about her?" Troy asked softly his head nuzzled into Gabriella's hair. He gently rubbed Gabriella's back feeling her shaking slightly.

"Prove she's right." Gabriella whispered firmly. Troy was completely confused. Two teenagers one with insomnia solve a murder case? That was insanity.

"Now how do you propose we do that?" Troy asked, not really giving any thought to the plan. Gabriella sat up and wiggled herself out of Troy's arm and then took a deep breath. She made direct eye contact with Troy and began her story.

"Okay, so just let me speak and don't interrupt." Gabriella said, almost in a pleading voice. "Okay?" she asked. Troy nodded.

"Okay, just try and stay with me here. Nate and your Dad put you in the hospital and put your mom in her coma." Troy jumped up and was about to say something or yell something, but Gabriella quickly put her hand over his mouth firmly and quickly continued on with her story.

"I have no idea why other than the fact that they are completely deranged." Gabriella continued in a frantic voice. "All I know is the night of the accident you were driving home after a basketball game with Chad. You and I had just gotten into a fight so Chad convinced me to talk with you and you and I ended up meeting up later in the park, the one we went to with Natalie. Next thing Nate was there and he hit you and your head hit a rock and it was bleeding like crazy. I was freaking out and I didn't know who to call other than your Dad and 911. Your Dad showed up with your mom in the car before the ambulance and insisted on bringing you to the hospital yourself. Next thing I know he pulled me to the side, told me to never tell anyone about this or else, and then drove the car with you, himself, and your mom in it into a building. Nate ran off. And I haven't known what to do since, especially since your Dad woke up." Gabriella finished quickly, quietly, and almost tearfully.

Troy was just staring, he didn't look like he had anything to say, he was just staring. "I know it's a lot." Gabriella said, taking Troy's hand and getting him to look at her again. "And the only reason I said anything was because the man who Natalie thinks killed her parents is Nate's father." Troy looked like he came back to reality for a minute. "All I know is your Dad woke up, Nate is in prison and I'm sure his Dad knew what happened, and this man suddenly shows up at the park Natalie plays at. Maybe, he's checking up on us."

"Why?" Troy said quickly pulling his arms out of Gabriella and pacing up and down the room not able to keep his eyes on one object for more than a second. How could his Dad possibly hurt him. And his mother! It made no sense. He couldn't understand and it was driving him crazy.

"Your Dad is awake isn't he?" Gabriella said, stating the obvious. "Troy, why don't we go to the police. I honestly don't care what happens to me about the lying this is getting too scary and your Dad waking up just made it scarier." Troy looked up almost contemplating the idea but then they heard footsteps and the two instantly resumed the poses of two teens watching television.

Gabriella's mom walked into the room with tears rolling down her eyes and a telephone in her hand.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Gabriella asked, getting up to check on her mother. Vicki instantly ran towards Troy embracing him in a hug.

"Troy, I'm so sorry, your father has died."

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**I promise the next chapter will be a bit slower and less confusing and I will explain things a bit better. =)**


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